


your best kept secret

by Krewlak



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Minor Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Minor Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Minor Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Post Time Jump, Season 5 AU, Time Travel, and, as part of the time travel there is some, but at the end of the day this is a jv & ba fic, so like keep that in mind lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 27,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28304106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krewlak/pseuds/Krewlak
Summary: the core four part ways when they graduate. life moves on. they each think that they’ve left the past in the past until they all receive invitations to the ten-year reunion.against their better judgements, all four attend and are reunited for the first time in a decade.as they struggle to come to terms with their fractured relationships, the voyeur (who isn’t done with them just yet) sends them into fox forest on the night of a full moon where jughead and veronica stumble upon a dark ritual meant to fix the broken timeline of a different town.a much belated gift for @half-ok and a s5 au
Relationships: Jughead Jones/Veronica Lodge
Comments: 28
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [half_ok](https://archiveofourown.org/users/half_ok/gifts).



> Let's real talk for a second: I've lost the thread for the other time travel fic that I started last year. I don't know if I'm ever going to find the thread again. That being said - I've taken the general idea of that fic and translated it into this new fic with a few added bits of canon s5 shit that's come out over the past few months. Sorry to fans of that fic but I don't know her anymore.

The reunion invitation comes in a nondescript navy blue envelope. Veronica stands in the foyer of her apartment and stares at it, barely processing the fact that it says _Veronica Lodge_ on the front. She hasn’t been Veronica _Lodge_ since she graduated high school. She’d made it a point to branch out past her name as soon as she’d passed the Leaving Riverdale sign. Veronica _Gomez_ had suited her just fine since then.

“Ronnie?” Chad calls from the kitchen. “Did you grab the mail?”

Veronica shakes her head and closes her eyes, taking a moment to gather herself. She checks her appearance in the mirror before sauntering into the kitchen with a bright smile. Chad smirks at her over the rim of his glasses, holding his hand out for the stack of mail and tilting his head back for a kiss.

“I said I’d grab it, didn’t I?” Veronica says as she lays the small pile of mail in his waiting hand. She gives him a quick peck on the lips, wiping away the small smudge of lipstick with her thumb. “Evening, lover.”

“Good day at the office then?” Chad asks as he turns his attention to the mail. There’s two glasses out and a bottle of her favorite red sitting on the counter and Veronica’s reminded just how good she has it. “Ronnie, this one on the top is for a Veronica Lodge? Maybe it’s some kind of junk mail?”

That good feeling rushes away just as quickly as it came. She kicks off her heels and moves to pour herself a glass before acknowledging Chad. She hears him open the envelope anyways without permission. Fine. Let him be the one to read the name of her high school. The high school she had lied about. Well, not lied. Left out was the more appropriate term. And at the worst possible moment, Veronica hears Archie Andrews’s voice in head.

_A lie of omission is still a lie, Ronnie._

She takes a long drink from her wine.

“Riverdale High School’s Class of 2020 is having their ten year reunion,” Chad says, sounding intrigued. Veronica turns around with the wine glass pressed to her chest and barely manages to make eye contact with him. “I thought you went to high school here. In the city. Some hoity-toity all-girl’s school?”

“I did,” Veronica says, throat tight. She doesn’t see the point in lying anymore, of letting this misconception continue to exist. She sips from her wine quickly and licks her lips before continuing. “For freshman year. I moved to Riverdale the summer before sophomore year and finished high school there.”

“So you haven’t lived in New York your entire life,” Chad says slowly, raising his eyebrows and putting the invitation down on the counter. It stares up at her, a glaring reminder of the past she’d been trying to outrun for a decade. “And your last name _isn’t_ Gomez, either, I’m guessing.”

“ _Legally_ , it is my last name,” Veronica says, sipping from her wine glass again. He gives her a dry look, completely unappreciative of her addition. “I changed it from Lodge when I started college. It’s my mother’s maiden name - much more practical than the name I made up when I was actually in highschool.”

“So,” Chad says, standing up from the kitchen island and ignoring her change of subject bait. Veronica puts her wine glass down and crosses her arms, taking a deep breath before nodding for Chad to continue. “You’ve been lying to me. For the . . . . entire time that I’ve known you.”

“I wouldn’t call it lying, per say,” Veronica says. She picks at a scab on her elbow, the nail of her index finger scraping at it gently. She’s sure it’s the only reason she’s even aware that she has a body right now. “You just assumed and I never corrected. I _did_ spend most of my life in New York and I _do_ consider it my home. I spent three . . . honestly, _miserable_ years in Riverdale. A blip, you know? Why mention it?”

“Miserable years?” Chad says, face softening a little. It barely lasts a minute before he’s annoyed again. “Don’t do that. Don’t deflect.”

“I’m _not_ ,” Veronica snaps back automatically. She cringes and closes her eyes the moment the words are out of her mouth. They’ve done this dance before. A million times. But he’d never given up on her. Not once. No matter how many times she’s tried to push him away. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to deflect. I swear. I didn’t mean to keep this from you.”

“I know,” Chad replies with a tired sigh. “I know that and I’m sorry for snapping.”

Veronica nods but doesn’t move across the kitchen towards him. He doesn’t move towards her either. There’s all this space between them suddenly and Veronica can’t help but feel like it’s entirely her fault. She knows that Chad would deny it, would argue with her for hours to convince her otherwise, but the feeling is there and she’s starting to wallow in it.

“So,” Chad says, cutting through her inner turmoil. Veronica looks up at him with wide eyes, like she’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t. He’s holding up the invitation and smiling slightly. “Are we going or not?”

-

The blinking cursor is mocking Jughead. He’s been staring at it for hours, inhaling cigarette after cigarette and downing cup after cup of coffee. But it’s still blinking and the page is still blank. His eyes dart to the cabinet in the corner.

It’s a moment. A solitary blip in his day, but it’s all he needs to crack.

He’s up and across the room in two long strides, hand stretching out ahead of him of its own volition. Just as he pulls open the cabinet door and sees the familiar square bottle and black label, he hears it. Jessica’s key in the door. Jughead nearly falls flat on his face in his rush to get back to his desk.

“Juggie?” Jessica calls from the hallway. “You home?”

“Back here!” Jughead shouts over his shoulder. He types a bullshit sentence and continues to type, knowing full well that he’s going to delete it all later. “Just getting some writing done!”

“Seriously?” Jessica calls back, excitement evident in her voice. Jughead swallows the lump of guilt sitting in his throat and tries to relax in his desk chair. Jessica comes up behind him and wraps her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. “Babe - that’s fantastic!”

“Yeah,” he murmurs, reaching up to grip her forearms. “It just started coming to me.”

“What have you got so far?” Jessica asks, leaning forward to try and read over his shoulder. Jughead jerks forwards to slam the computer shut. He doesn’t know what it is that he actually wrote and he doesn’t need her to see a bunch of gibberish and misspelled words. “Jughead!”

“You know how I am!” he says, turning around to face her. She makes a show of putting her hands on her hips and pouting in disappointment. “No one reads it until it’s ready.”

“I hate that rule and you know it,” she replies with a dramatic sigh.

Jughead tries to smile at her but he knows it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He can’t turn off the voice in his head calling him a liar, a cheat, a shit excuse for a writer, let alone a boyfriend. Jessica is going on about her day but he can barely keep track of what she’s saying. Something about a client. Something that he should listen to because he loves her and he loves her impressions of her coworkers. But the voice in his head is damn near deafening.

“Jughead!” Jessica shouts, snapping her fingers in front of his face. Her heels are kicked off and her hair has been pulled back into a ponytail. For a horrifying moment, Jughead has a flashback to high school and Betty Cooper giving him the same look. “Are you even listening to me? I swear, you’re half here sometimes.”

“I’m sorry,” Jughead says, holding up both hands. He stands up from his chair and spins Jessica around, hooking his chin over her shoulder and walking her out of his office. “I’m just thinking about my book.”

“Right,” Jessica hums, leaning up to kiss his cheek again. She pulls his arms around her waist and leans back into the warmth of his body a little more. “Your book. The one you refuse to tell me anything about.”

“Are you really going to try and understand a writer’s process?” Jughead asks with a laugh. “Trust me. That way only leads to madness.”

“It might but if it gets me one step closer to knowing you, Jughead Jones,” Jessica replies, turning in his arms to wrap her own arms around his neck. She digs her fingers into his hair and smirks a little. “Then I am very willing to walk the path of madness.”

The corner of Jughead’s mouth quirks up into a slight smile. He thinks of Betty again and it makes his blood run cold. He hasn’t thought about the blonde this much in months - almost a full year. It’s progress towards getting over the girl who ripped his heart out and ate it. Slow progress but progress all the same, so he isn’t quite sure what it is about this particular day that keeps reminding him of her.

He needs a drink.

“So, mysterious best-selling author,” Jessica murmurs, leaning up to kiss him gently. He knows where she’s going with this but he’s not feeling it. Hasn’t been feeling it since he fell into this year long writer’s block. Something that Jessica is fully aware of but insists she can help him overcome if she just tries hard enough. “What’s on the menu for dinner?”

She presses her entire body against him, making her suggestion perfectly clear. It used to be his kryptonite, feeling her pressed against him. It used to make him hard and clumsy in his eagerness to strip her of her lawyer’s suit and to mess up her perfectly coiffed hair. Jughead tries to swallow down the guilt and the irritation that’s always produced by moments like this now-a-days. Tried to swallow down the resentment that he knows Jessica doesn’t fucking deserve.

“I was thinking that Indian place around the corner?” Jughead offers, knowing that he’s fooling exactly no one with his none too subtle suggestion. Jessica sighs and drops her eyes, stepping back from him a little. “When’s the last time we got your favorite?”

“You don’t like chicken,” Jessica says, pulling away from him and untucking her shirt from her skirt, running a hand through her hair to dislodge the last few bobby pins. She leans down to gather them in her palm, picking up the mail as she goes. She holds out a navy blue envelope to him with a frown. “This one is for you.”

Jughead frowns and takes it from her, zeroing in on his full name in delicate cursive. Something twists in Jughead’s stomach and he licks his lips. Jessica is going on about something but, once again, Jughead is tuning her out. There’s no name on the return address but it came from Riverdale and that’s foreboding enough. He rips open the envelope knowing full-well that whatever is inside is going to change his life.

-

Nothing about Riverdale has changed in the years that she’s been away. She hadn’t expected much else, to be honest, but the exact same streets and shops still managed to stop her in her tracks when they’d arrived at the Five Seasons. It’s almost as if the town was frozen in time as soon as the four of them left. It’s a stupid idea, of course, but Veronica can’t shake it as she walks towards Pop’s with Chad in tow.

“This is really small,” Chad says, looking around him. He wraps an arm around Veronica’s shoulders and the nostalgia of the town doesn’t seem as tempting. “Like. Cult town small.”

“Oh god,” Veronica groans. “I forgot to tell you about the Farm.”

She’d informed Chad of the major points of her wild teenage years as they drove from New York to Riverdale - omitting the few details that she wasn’t directly involved in. That included things like the Farm and G&G and the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Veronica does her best to piece together something resembling a story for all the parts she’d left out. Chad takes most of it in stride, growing quieter and quieter the longer she goes on and the closer they get to Pop’s

For a brief moment, she feels like she’s sixteen again as she steps into the neon lights of the parking lot. She half expects Archie and Betty to be waiting for her when she steps through the door. They’re not, of course, but the inside of Pop’s lives up her to memories - shiny and clean and so retro it aches. She’d missed this place.

“Very _Back to the Future_ ,” Chad comments as they sit down in a booth. “I’m getting that’s the general vibe of Riverdale.”

“Generally,” Veronica says with a shrug. She orders for the both of them, not bothering to ask Chad what he wants. The menu hasn’t changed enough to not have a bacon burger, fries, and a vanilla shake. “Can’t you see why I didn’t want to share any of this with you? With anyone? My teenage years weren’t exactly normal.”

“Maybe not,” Chad says with a shrug. “But they made you who you are and you made it out of this insane town in one piece. Sounds like that’s a pretty amazing thing in and of itself.”

“It is a wonder that I’m not a total lunatic,” Veronica says with a laugh. The waitress drops off their food and Veronica smirks when Chad’s eyes widen. “Or fatter for that matter.”

“You ate here every day?” Chad asks just before biting into his burger. He groans a little and shuts his eyes as he chews. Veronica rests her chin on her fist and waits for his moment to be over. “Seriously. How are you _not_ fatter?”

“Very funny, Mr Gecko,” Veronica replies, rolling her eyes and biting into an onion ring. “Just wait until you taste the milkshake. It’s a wonder that I ever fit into my Vixens uniform.”

“What exactly is a Vixen and why were you wearing a uniform for it?” Chad asks as he reaches for his shake with an eager smile. “Is it as dirty as it sounds?”

“If I didn’t know any better,” Veronica mutters. “I would think you were enjoying this little excursion into my Elm Street, of the Freddy Kreuger variety, childhood.”

“This is just a whole different side of you that I never knew existed, Veronica,” Chad says, leaning forward. He reaches across the table and takes her hand, running his thumb back and forth over her knuckles. Veronica softens a little and leans across the table towards him. “It took so much to get here and I’m just . . . really grateful that you’re finally opening up.”

Veronica gives him a halfhearted smile. His own smile is blinding, of course. Veronica swallows down the guilt she feels for keeping this from him, tries to focus on how grateful she is that he hasn’t walked away from her yet. Even with all of her baggage.

Just as she leans forward to kiss him, the bell by the front door rings.

-

“Remind me why we aren’t staying with your family?” Jessica asks for the tenth time since they checked into their room at the Five Seasons. Jughead bites the inside of his cheek to stop from snapping at her. “I mean, it’s not like they haven’t visited us a million times in Seattle. I highly doubt FP would mind some company.”

“It's not about my dad minding the company, Jessica,” Jughead mutters. He shoves his hands into his pockets and walks a little faster towards the glowing beacon that is Pop’s parking lot. “I just don’t want to stay at the house, okay? He knows it has nothing to do with him.”

“Then what is it?” Jessica asks, knowing full well that he isn't going to answer her. She loops her arm through his and hooks their elbows together, leaning into his side. “You’ve never really gotten into what your deal is with that house. I mean, you grew up there.”

Jughead can’t help but scoff. Jessica raises her eyebrows at him but he doesn’t answer her obvious question. He doesn’t feel like starting a fight about his past, about the childhood that he’s never gotten into with her. They’ve spent seven years together and this is the first time that she’s pushed this hard to know.

“It’s not like you have that terrible of a relationship with your father,” Jessica mumbles. She's never known when to quit. It was one of the things that had first attracted him, one of the things that made her a great lawyer, but right now it just gets on Jughead’s nerves. “Your step-mom doesn’t live there anymore. Jellybean is studying at that new community college that they built but she's never home. You should see her Instagram, _seriously_. You _still_ haven't told me the deal with your mom but that's fine. I'm not starting _that_ argument again. It’s literally just the _house_.”

“Jesus, Jessica, just drop it,” Jughead snaps as he opens the door for Pop’s. Jessica opens her mouth to continue making her point so Jughead just rolls his eyes and goes inside without her. He’s not sure if it’s a twist of fate or just his generally shitty luck that makes him notice her as soon as he’s through the door. “Fuck me.”

Veronica hasn’t changed much in the decade that’s passed. Her hair is shorter and she’s wearing her glasses but she’s still beautiful and infuriating to look at just like she was in high school. It takes her a long minute to recognize him without his beanie. He’d stopped wearing it shortly after the fall out of that last video tape but that doesn’t mean Veronica had ever gotten used to the sight. A decade apart hadn’t helped.

“As I live and breathe,” Jughead mutters, pressing a hand to his chest. He doesn’t spare Jessica another glance as he makes his way towards her booth. “Veronica Lodge back in Riverdale.”

“It’s Gomez, actually,” Veronica says without standing up or meeting Jughead’s eye. She keeps her attention focused on her meal and on Chad. She’d perfected this particular act of indifference by age five, there was no way for Jughead to know just how jarring it was to see him here of all places. “Though I’m sure you still go by Jughead.”

“Jughead?” Chad parrots back, looking up at Jughead with raised eyebrows.

“She’s told you about me then?” Jughead asks, turning away from Veronica with a sharp jerk of his head. He sucks his teeth and eyes Chad up and down. “And you’re what? Her husband? Boy toy? Assistant, maybe?”

“Don’t be an ass, Jughead,” Veronica snaps, glaring up at him. “You don’t even know, Chad.”

“You married a _Chad_?” Jughead asks with a sneer.

“Jughead?” Jessica asks from behind Jughead, looking worriedly between Chad and Veronica. There’s something in her eyes that Veronica recognizes. It's the same shade of desperation that she’d looked at Archie with near the end. That possessive kind of love that takes hold of everything inside of you even as you lose the person that you love the most. Veronica pities her. “Is she a friend of yours?”

“Has anything about this interaction said that we’re friends?” Veronica asks, raising an eyebrow at the brunette.

“We went to high school together,” Jughead supplies without looking away from Veronica. There’s something mean in his gaze that sends a thrill down Veronica’s spine. “We were both casualties in the rise of Barchie.”

“Five minutes,” Veronica says with a thin smile. Jughead rolls his eyes and laughs a little, glancing at Chad as if he might find a comrade in his suffering. “You’ve been here five minutes and you’ve already brought it up. Why am I even surprised?”

“Brought what up?” Chad asks, looking at Veronica with a frown. Veronica closes her eyes and exhales slowly. She hadn’t gotten to that - hadn’t explained everything that had happened with Archie. How _he_ had been the straw that broke the camel's back. “And what the hell is a Barchie?”

“He doesn’t know?” Jughead asks with disbelief. “How can your _husband_ not know?”

“He is _not_ my husband, you fucking sociopath,” Veronica hisses at him, slamming her palm on the table. Both Chad and Jessica jump a little but neither Jughead or Veronica’s attention breaks. “God, how about you think about your partner and leave mine alone, huh?”

“Veronica, it’s fine,” Chad mumbles, eyes darting around Pop’s worriedly. Despite their years away from Riverdale, both Veronica and Jughead feel a certain level of comfort inside of Pop’s. Jessica and Chad are outsiders and much more aware of the stares that they’re getting. “Maybe we can take this outside?”

“No,” Veronica snaps at Chad, narrowing her eyes at Jughead. “We got here first, we’re going to stay.”

“You’re still a literal fucking five year old,” Jughead says with a sneer. He looks around the diner for the first time and takes in how little it’s actually changed, including the judging stares from it’s patrons. Nothing like home sweet home. “You want a booth or a table, Jessica?”

“Oh, now I’m here,” Jessica says with a scoff. Jughead turns to her with wide eyes and the beginnings of an apology on the tip of his tongue. Jessica holds up her hand to stop him. “Don’t even bother, Jughead. I’m just going to go order room service.”

Jughead, Veronica, and Chad all watch with open mouths as Jessica gives them all a tight lipped smile before spinning on her heel and leaving the diner. Veronica turns to Chad, hoping for some kind of explanation for whatever bizarro universe they had stepped into, but he’s looking after Jessica longingly. Not in a romantic sense, of course, but in the way that said he wished he could walk away from this situation as well.

“You can go, too,” Veronica says softly, reaching across the table to grab Chad’s wrist. She gives it a tight squeeze and tries to smile at him. “I’ll be fine here on my own.”

“Veronica,” Chad starts but she holds up a hand, much like Jessica had. For a second, Chad’s attention turns to Jughead but Veronica’s doesn’t waver. “If you’d rather deal with this without me, you can just say.”

Something inside of Veronica cringes. It's a fair assumption but it doesn’t take away the sting of it. She’s come a long way from where she was when she first met Chad. She just wished that he remembered that as well.

“I’m a big girl and you drove all day,” Veronica says, waving him away. “Go back to the room and get some rest.”

Before he can come up with any other arguments, Veronica leans across the table and kisses him squarely on the mouth. Chad jerks away and narrows his eyes at her, gaze jerking towards Jughead for the briefest of moments. She knows the thought that just crossed his mind, it crossed hers as well just as she’d pressed their mouths together putting on a show for their audience of one.

She tries to smooth the moment over, running her thumb over his lips to rub away the slightest bit of lipstick she’d managed to leave behind. She knows her cheeks are pink but there’s nothing that she can do about that now. Veronica plops back into her seat and winks at Chad. “I’ll be back soon. Promise.”

“Whatever you say, Ronnie,” Chad says with a sigh. He looks Jughead up and down before sliding from the booth. He offers a short nod in goodbye but nothing more than that before leaving the diner.

“He’s a real charmer,” Jughead mutters at Chad’s retreating back before sliding into the booth and stealing a French fry. “I can only assume he comes from money.”

“Jesus Christ,” Veronica says, shaking her head. “You do not quit, do you? Your own partner ran out first! And you’re sitting _here_! With _me_!”

“And you shooed your partner away just so we could be alone together,” Jughead says with a shrug. “In fact, it seemed like you were trying to not get caught in a lie.”

“I was not being caught in a _lie_ ,” Veronica denies instantly.

“A lie of omission is still a lie,” Jughead chimes. He glances around the diner with a raised eyebrow before reaching into his inner pocket for his flask. He actively avoids looking Veronica in the eye as he pours a bit of bourbon into the remnants of Chad’s milkshake. He’s about to screw the cap closed when Veronica slides her own shake towards him. “Living on the wild side, Miss Lodge?”

“I told you,” Veronica says with a sigh. “It’s Gomez now.”

Jughead pours a generous helping into her milkshake and gives it a swirl before siding it back her way. Now that he knows he’s not drinking along, Jughead tops up his own shake before putting the flask away again. “You were born a Lodge. You’ll die a Lodge.”

“I guess by that logic, at least I’ll die in the lap of luxury,” Veronica says before sipping from her shake. The bourbon is strong and cuts through the sweetness of the chocolate. “Which is more than you can say, right? As a Jones and all?”

“But the Jones family moved on up to Elm Street,” Jughead says before taking his glass and foregoing the straw all together as he takes a long drink. Veronica watches his throat bob effortlessly with wide eyes. When he slams his glass back down onto the table, it’s half empty and he’s sporting a white mustache. “Or is that another little fact about our mutual past that you’ve chosen to forget?”

“Not everyone wants to wallow in their childhood trauma. We don’t all get million dollar books deals out of it,” Veronica mumbles around her straw. There’s no bite to it but he jerks back like she’d slapped him. Veronica can’t help but roll her eyes. “Yes, Jughead, I read your stupid book. Surprised?”

“Shocked, actually,” Jughead says. He bites his bottom lip and crosses his arms, lasting a full five seconds before he asks for her review. “I’m sure you have an opinion. Time hasn’t changed you _that_ much.”

“It was a little hard to enjoy my traumatic teenage years turned freaky friend fiction, actually,” Veronica says with a thin lipped smile. She wields it as deftly as a blade and it slices through his ego. “And don’t think I didn’t notice the total lack of a character arc for your thinly veiled criticism of me.”

“Excuse me?” Jughead asks with the actual audacity to be offended. Veronica nearly groans.

“The new girl in town? With the wealthy parents but tragic home life who never thinks past the next party and is a constant pawn in her father’s machinations?” Veronica snaps quickly before sucking down the last of her milkshake.

She had read the book in one sitting shortly after it came out. Her mother mentioning it in one of her emails - a random complaint about how the lawyers couldn’t stop it from being published - is the only reason that she even knew that he’d actually done it. They’d all known about his book about Jason back in high school but with everything that was constantly happening to them, none of them actually thought he’d ever finish let alone actually get it published.

“I might have taken some inspiration from real life but that doesn’t mean the character is supposed to be you,” Jughead mumbles. It sounds like a practiced line and Veronica tells him as much. Jughead rolls his eyes.

He might have heard the critique from everyone who’d lived through his inspiration themselves. Betty didn’t appreciate the girl next door homage according to his father - she didn’t tell him herself, of course. That would mean speaking to him which she still wasn’t doing. Most days, Jughead didn’t mind. He’d minded that day.

“Regardless,” Veronica says with a sigh. She reaches across the table for his milkshake, sticking her straw in before taking a healthy sip. Jughead raises his eyes and she sighs, letting her shoulders drop. “What?”

“You’re putting down the booze pretty hard,” Jughead says, knowing full well how full of shit he sounded. “Your homecoming wasn’t a breath of nostalgic air?”

“Oh fuck off,” Veronica mutters, keeping her straw between her teeth. She takes another sip of milkshake and tries to ignore the way his eyes are boring holes into her forehead. “It wasn’t 100% my idea to come to the reunion and I spent the whole day rehashing every crazy thing that happened to me in this town. So excuse me for not being in the best of moods to reconnect with a recurring character from my past.”

“I wouldn’t say recurring,” Jughead mutters, reaching out to take his milkshake back. There’s barely a mouthful left but he’s going to be the one to finish it. Veronica’s straw flicks milkshake at him as it pops out of the glass, held firmly in her teeth. For a split second, Jughead wishes he had his camera to capture the look of indignation on her face. “I was definitely a main character.”

“Ha!” Veronica shouts, spitting the straw onto the table. Jughead frowns at her before gingerly picking it up with a napkin and dropping it on her plate. He still has a healthy respect for diner waitstaff. The last thing he wanted was to leave a total mess behind. “You might have been a main character in all the death and murder but you were recurring, at best, for all of the organized crime and illegal underground.”

“I was the leader of a gang!” Jughead defends. He leans closer so that she can smell the booze and cigarettes on his breath. “I trafficked drugs.”

“Unwittingly,” Veronica says, rolling her eyes. “I set my entire father’s stash of jingle jangle on fire _after_ my mother had sold it to yours.”

Jughead sits back with a slight grunt. “Maybe you have me on that but I definitely have more attempts on my life.”

“I think we’re about even,” Veronica says, narrowing her eyes. She sighs and leans back, crossing her arms. “Though I suppose you, technically, have been closer to death. I’ve just had a few guns pointed at me.”

Jughead laughs at that and Veronica finds herself laughing along with him. There’s a twisted sense of irony that he’s the one that she can relax with, who she can properly joke about the truly fucked up childhood they shared. She doesn't think that Chad will ever understand it, will ever be able to grasp the _why_ behind the way that she is. It’s hard to understand if you didn’t live through it and Jughead is the first person in a decade that she’s talked to about this stuff.

“So, _Chad_ ,” Jughead starts, eating one of the few remaining french fries. “Is he new? Is that why he doesn’t know about them?”

“You just can’t let things lie, can you?” Veronica asks, shaking her head in disbelief. “We were having a nice moment there, Jones, and you had to ruin it.”

“I just think it’s a little odd that your boyfriend doesn’t know about them,” Jughead says, holding up his hands. “I don’t know. That’s just me.”

“So your little brunette knows it all then?” Veronica asks, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes. “I guess she does if she read your book, fictionalized though it may be. But does she know the real end?”

“The real end?” Jughead repeats, knowing where she’s going with this.

“You didn’t get the girl, Jughead,” Veronica says, tilting her head. “You didn’t get the girl in the worst way possible and it chased you out of this shithole town ten years ago and it’s haunted you ever since.”

“At least I can talk about it,” Jughead replies just as casually. “At least I faced it, I turned it into something. What did you do? Change your name and your hair and suddenly you’re not the same person you were back then? They did the same thing to you that they did to me, Veronica, and you were just as crushed by it.”

Veronica inhales sharply before sliding from the booth. She stands at the end of the table and gives a Jughead a tight lipped smile. “Not that this hasn’t been a blast but I’m exhausted and my boyfriend is waiting for me. I’ll see you tomorrow at the reunion.”

“Veronica,” Jughead says, voice low and apologetic. It’s the closest that he’ll get to an apology. He still has his pride but he’s not ready to be left alone with his ghosts. For a moment, even if he was fighting with her, he’d been having fun. He’d felt like his old self before the booze and the money and the book.

“It’s nothing, Jughead,” Veronica cuts him off. She doesn’t want his platitudes. She knows loneliness when she sees it but she can’t be his savior. Not when she’s barely treading water herself. “Tomorrow.”

-

The reunion itself isn’t anything overly fancy. Kevin had rented out the ballroom at the Five Seasons and done his best to decorate it accordingly. It’s very _13 Going on 30_ \- the right amount of nostalgia and small town charm that every single person in their graduating class knows is bogus. At least there’s an in-memoriam table with pictures of the classmates who didn’t make it out of Riverdale alive.

Chad ditches his tie as soon as they see the paper streamers and balloons all over the place. Veronica laughs a little and tucks it into her purse. “I told you that you were too dressed up.”

“It's not like the invitation said anything about attire,” Chad mumbles as he unbuttons the top two buttons of his shirt. Veronica adjusts his collar for him and ruffles his hair a little bit for good measure. Chad rolls his eyes and leans back away from her hands. “I think that’s enough.”

“It’s not like there’s anyone here to impress,” Veronica says as she surveys the room. Surprisingly, there aren’t that many familiar faces. Not that she spent a lot of time getting to know her fellow classmates. “I plan on never seeing these people ever again after tonight.”

“Oh, don’t say that,” Chad hums, draping his arm around her shoulders and guiding her towards the punch bowl. “You mean to say you don’t want to keep in touch with KettleScalp?”

“It’s Jughead,” Veronica reminds him with a slight smirk. She’s always liked it when his petty side came out. “Or is this your subtle way of telling me that you don’t like him?”

“I would never say I dislike someone from one meeting,” Chad says, tilting his head slightly as if he’s actually considering it. “But, then again, I can’t really say that Jughead is _my_ kind of people, you know?”

“Such a polite answer,” Veronica says, letting her smirk turn into a bright smile. “Your lawyer buddies would be so proud of you.”

“They’re not lawyers,” Chad says, letting go of her to pour them both a glass of punch. Veronica can tell from the smell alone that it’s spiked. She’s sure that Reggie or someone of the like is to thank for that. “They’re upper level executives.”

“God, I hate when you talk all business executive,” Veronica says, scrunching her face up dramatically. She gladly accepts the punch from Chad, talking a long drink to try and take the edge off of the moment. “I did not fall for a business executive.”

“No, you just fell for a business major,” Chad says, rolling his eyes. He wraps his arm around her waist and spins her away from the punch table, a soft smile on his lips just for her. He leans down a little so that his mouth is against her ear. “Besides, we both know it makes you horny when I get all business executive.”

“Chad Gecko,” Veronica hums against Chad’s cheek.

They sway back and forth to the rhythm of whatever nameless song is playing over the PA system, arms wrapped around each other and faces pressed into each other’s necks. Veronica can see the curious looks they’re getting over Chad’s shoulder but none of it bothers her. She didn’t care what these people thought of her ten years ago, she doesn’t care now. Chad mumbles something that she doesn’t catch as he spins her out just as _they_ walk through the doors.

-

“There are worse places to be on a Saturday night than the Five Seasons ballroom,”Jughead says, tugging Jessica further into the hall. “This is the nicest place that Riverdale has to offer, you know.”

He’s a little sloshed but Jessica doesn’t call him out on it. He’s pretty sure that while he was sleeping off his hangover, she was off getting high with his dad. It’s the sort of thing she would do, the sort of thing that would annoy him the most. Besides, it was the only explanation for the weed he smelled on her breath when she kissed him awake.

“I’m just saying that you clearly don’t want to be here,” Jessica grumbles as she stumbles into him. “And I fully regret ever suggesting that we attend your ten year reunion. Clearly, it was a mistake.”

“What do you mean _clearly_?” Jughead asks, turning to face her. She’s looking everywhere but at him. Another pet peeve of his. He isn’t sure if it’s the booze or Jessica herself that’s doing it to him but his patience is thin. “Is there something about my behavior that displeases you, Jessica?”

“You know there is,” she snaps at him, eyes boring into his own so suddenly that he almost jerks back. There used to be a time where Jughead Jones didn’t flinch. The look of disappointment on Jessica’s face is almost enough to make him miss those days. “If I had known that coming back here was going to send you into such a fucking spiral, I never would have suggested it.”

“I am not in a spiral,” Jughead replies without thinking. Jessica raises both eyebrows before reaching out and plucking his flask from his inner jacket pocket. She shakes it by her ear and smirks a little when she hears the familiar slosh. He tries to sound like he’s joking when he quips, “At least it's not empty, right?”

“You’re unbelievable,” Jessica says, shaking her head. She shoves the flask back into his pocket and spins on her heel to march away from him. Jughead’s hand jerks out to grab her upper arm without him even thinking. Jessica looks at him over her shoulder with wide, angry eyes. “Get your hand off of me, Jones.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, instantly releasing her and holding both hands up in surrender. Jessica crosses her arms over her stomach and she’s still furious but at least she isn’t walking away from him anymore. “Can’t we talk about this?”

“What is there to talk about?” Jessica hisses, stepping towards him. She looks around the room briefly, checking to make sure that no one is paying attention to them just like she had at Pop’s. “Neither of us want to be here. So, let’s just go.”

He’s about to agree, to give her anything that she wants if it’ll buy him another day with her, when he looks over her shoulder to see a familiar swash of blonde hair. Jughead’s heart skips a beat and everything seems to slow down for a moment. He’s not sure if he’s having a panic attack or not. It’s been years since he’s had one but it’s the only way he can think of describing the sensation of seeing Betty Cooper again after ten years.

“Jughead!” Jessica calls, turning to see what it is that’s caught his attention again. She lets out a bitter laugh and shakes her head. “I guess I was wrong about you not wanting to be here after all.”

Jughead doesn’t get the chance to say anything else before Jessica slips away from him towards the other side of the ballroom. Jughead looks after his girlfriend before turning back towards his ex - the ultimate ex, the ex that made him the person that he is today. She still hasn’t turned around, still hasn’t trained her perfectly green gaze onto him, but Archie has found him in the crowd.

Not much has changed about the redhead - a little more chiseled, a little more serious looking, but his eyes are still that soft shade of brown that always manages to seem so damn warm. Jughead thinks he could deal with this moment better if, maybe, just maybe, those brown eyes had grown a little harder. A little more difficult to read, but that’s not the case.

Jughead starts to cross the room without even thinking about it. It only takes a few seconds to cross the room but it feels like it takes hours. Archie steps in front of Betty, protective as always, but his shoulders are relaxed as if he’s prepared for whatever Jughead has to throw at him. And there’s so much. So goddamn much that Jughead has wanted to say to his best friend over the years. None of it comes to mind right now. Nothing is on Jughead’s mind, as a matter of fact, nothing other than getting to Archie.

“Jughead,” Archie mumbles, a warning and a greeting all at the same time. He tenses for the briefest of moments, waiting for the inevitable punch or shove or anything other than Jughead throwing his arms around Archie’s neck and pulling him into a tight hug. Jughead presses his face to Archie’s neck and inhales the familiar smell that’s ingrained in every inch of his being. It’s been years but he’s never forgotten that smell. “This is . . . not what I expected.”

Jughead pulls away from Archie just enough to look him in the face and laughs, “You and me both, Andrews. You and me both.”

Archie laughs along with him before wrapping his arms around Jughead and pulling him in tight. They continue to hug and laugh and mumble words into each other’s skin about missing each other and how stupid they were as kids and how long it’s been. As much as everything that had happened senior year had ripped both their hearts out, it hadn’t been enough for either of them to forget the feeling of brotherhood that’s existed between them since they were toddlers.

“This is definitely a sight that I’ve missed,” Betty says, standing behind Archie. Jughead finally lifts his eyes from the redhead’s shoulder to look at her for the first time in a decade. Her hair is still pulled back in a ponytail, lower on her head that it used to be in high school and not as tight. She’s softened in the decade since they last saw each other, softened and hardened at the same time. “It’s been a while, Jug.”

“Leave it to Jughead to get to you two first,” Veronica says as she steps up to the trio with Chad trailing behind her, looking sheepish. Jughead, who hasn’t let go of Archie for fear that he might disappear at a moment’s notice, just raises his eyebrows at her but she ignores him. “You’re both looking lovely, as expected.”

“Veronica,” Betty says, her face lighting up in a way that it hadn’t when she’d looked at Jughead. He’s sure that he’d had the same look on his face when he’d hugged Archie. Betty takes an aborted step towards her, arms rising up a fraction in an aborted hug, before biting her lip. “You look great.”

“Betty,” Veronica says, inhaling sharply. She bites her bottom lip before exhaling and lunging forward to pull the blonde in close. Betty sighs in relief and wraps her arms around Veronica’s waist in return. “I’ve really missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” Betty murmurs into Veronica’s hair. Veronica swears that she can hear tears in Betty’s voice but she refuses to pull away to check for herself. She’d been dreading this moment, dreading coming face-to-face with Betty, but now that the moment has come and passed, Veronica feels silly. “I’m so happy that you decided to come to the reunion.”

“Trust me, it was definitely against my better judgement,” Veronica mumbles, pulling away slightly to get a better look at Betty. “I’m just as surprised that you’re here, too.”

“You can thank Arch for that,” Betty mumbles, rolling her eyes. Her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink but she doesn’t shy away from being honest with Veronica. “He insisted.”

“So, you two kept in touch?” Veronica asks. The answer was obvious but she wanted to hear the confirmation for herself. She wanted to know if it was worth it for them, hurting Jughead and Veronica like that. Did it pay off for the epic romance Betty had always dreamed of? “After...well, after everything?”

“Not at first,” Betty says slowly. She glances over her shoulder at Archie, meeting his eyes for the briefest of moments. Veronica remembers sharing moments like that with Archie, silent conversations that made the whole world disappear for a moment. When Betty turns back to Veronica, her eyes are a little softer and her shoulders a little more relaxed. “But after college. We both came home and it just, sort of, happened. But what about you! Tell me about your life!”

Veronica tries to laugh off the abrupt change of topic but she knows that it comes off strained. She keeps glancing at Archie, her eyes can’t seem to get enough of him. It’s almost like she’s been dying of thirst and he’s the only thing that can quench her. It’s such a ridiculous feeling but Veronica can’t make it go away.

“Well,” Veronica starts, forcing herself to look away from Archie. She looks over her shoulder, searching for Chad but she must have lost him on her way over here. She turns back to Betty, trying to seem chipper but she’s not sure she’s pulling it off. “I live in the city. Big corporate corner office. Wonderful boyfriend. Nothing too exciting, to be honest. Everything that you imagined for Veronica Lodge, I’m sure.”

“V,” Betty mumbles fondly, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure that’s more than just that. I want to know _everything_.”

Veronica laughs and looks around again for Chad. He’s still missing and despite Betty’s best intentions, Veronica feels interrogated. She wants to walk away to find Chad. She wants to talk to Archie. She wants a million other things than to be standing here anymore. Naturally, that’s the moment when Jughead meets her eye over Archie’s shoulder.

He can see the turmoil on her face, plain as day. He’s not sure if Betty doesn’t see it or if she’s purposely ignoring Veronica’s discomfort, forcing the situation in the way that only a Cooper can. Jughead supposes it doesn’t matter either way - Veronica is drowning and there’s no one reaching out a saving hand.

Jughead licks his lips, catches the moment where Veronica’s eyes dart to his mouth, and tunes back into what Archie is saying. “But, yeah, I’m a firefighter. Betty took over the register for her mom after they bought it back from the Lodges. It’s not a lot but we like it and it works for us.”

“That’s really nice, Arch,” Jughead mumbles even though it doesn’t sound genuine.The humble life in Riverdale had never been Jughead’s dream, especially not after everything they all went though. He’d thought that Betty had been on the same page as him, that she had wanted to get out just as badly as he did. Apparently, he was wrong. “I’m glad you’re happy, man. I really am.”

“What about you, though?” Archie asks, gesturing towards Jughead. “I thought I saw you here with someone?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s Jessica,” Jughead says, rubbing the back of his neck. He’s surprised that Archie had even seen Jessica considering her quick departure. “She didn't feel well. Went back to the room already.”

“You’re not staying at the house?” Archie asks with a frown. Jughead clenches his jaw and tries to keep his shoulders loose. “I saw your dad this morning. He didn’t say anything about you being in town but since you’re here I just assumed.”

“Yeah, well, we both know what assuming does, don’t we Arch?” Jughead says with a thin smile. Leave it to Archie Andrews to unintentionally wander into a sore subject.

He glances over Archie’s shoulder again towards Veronica and Betty but they’re both turned towards the front of the room with matching looks of horror spreading across their faces. Jughead frowns and turns towards the front of the room as well. Kevin is frantically batting at his laptop and the entire hall seems to be focused on the screen behind him.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Archie mumbles under his breath and that’s when it hits Jughead just what he’s looking at.

It’s that same tape from prom. The grainy footage, the way it zooms in on Archie and Betty’s mouths just as they kiss in Archie’s garage. The way the added music seems to swell as the dramatic coming together of two lost souls gets caught on tape.

Someone on the crowd boos and soon the whole room is jeering along with them. Jughead would laugh except for the dirty looks that his fellow alumni are starting to turn their way. Archie wraps his arm around Betty’s shoulders, pulling her in close and pressing a kiss to the top of her forehead. Jughead quickly looks away from them, feeling like he’s intruding on a private moment.

The video on the screen continues though past it’s original romantic conclusion. Now it’s the front of an apartment building - Veronica’s building. She exits a moment later with Chad, rolling suitcases and hailing a cab.

Betty gasps and Archie swears under his breath. The video transitions poorly to the modest house that Jughead shares with Jessica. They’re leaving as well, locking the door, their suitcases sitting at the bottom of the porch steps. The tape manages to catch the moment Jughead snuck a long sip from his flask before switching to the familiar front steps of the Andrews house on Elm Street.

Jughead turns to Veronica, mouth open to say something, anything, to try and soften the blow that the voyeur is still watching them, has been watching them ever since they left Riverdale, maybe. But Chad’s reappearance stops Jughead in his tracks.

They’re fighting, neither of them paying attention to the screen and seemingly missing the big reveal. Jughead isn’t sure who started the fight. Considering how tense Veronica is, arms wrapped tightly around her waist and her mouth pressed into a thin line, Jughead makes an educated guess that she’s on the defensive.

Jughead tries to catch her eye, taking a step forward to intervene, but Veronica must sense him or something. Her eyes dart to Jughead briefly and she shakes her head the tiniest bit but her focus barely shifts from Chad.

“I just don’t understand why you’d want to stay,” Chad hisses at Veronica, shoving his hands into his pockets. He nods towards the now blank screen and the looks that people are throwing their way. “Clearly this is all something from your past that I don’t know anything about but it’s not good for you.”

“I’m not saying that we stay forever, Chad,” Veronica snaps, voice low. The last thing she wants is for Jughead to overhear any more than he already has. “Can we please just talk about this in the room?”

“Fuck the room, Veronica,” Chad says, rolling his eyes. “I’ve barely recognized you since we got here. You’ve been weird since we passed the welcome sign and I don’t like it.”

“I didn’t want to come here, remember?” Veronica asks. “You insisted that I confront my demons, that I confront my past!”

“I didn’t realize that your past wasn’t still in the fucking past, Veronica!” Chad shouts, gesturing towards the screen blindly. It sours Jughead’s already churning stomach and he can’t help but to step in between them. Chad looks up at him, mouth half open in a shout that dies in his throat. “Look, Plughead, I’m trying to have a conversation with Veronica.”

“It’s Jughead,” Jughead reminds Chad before turning to Veronica. She’s shooting daggers at him with her eyes but it’s not the first time he’s been glared at by Veronica Lodge. He’s sure that he’ll survive. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t,” Veronica snaps. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what?” Jughead asks, genuinely confused. “Don’t interrupt your boyfriend talking down to you like that?”

“I was not talking down to her,” Chad snaps from behind Jughead. They’re starting to garner attention for reasons that have nothing to do with that fucking video tape but it doesn’t stop either of them. “How about you mind your own business?”

“Are you guys okay?” Archie asks, frowning at Chad over Jughead’s shoulder. Betty is clinging to Archie’s side but her glare is just as hard.

“It’s fine,” Jughead says, nodding at Archie. Veronica actually scoffs and rolls her eyes but it doesn’t stop him. “I’ve got it under control.”

“I am perfectly capable of handling Chad on my own, thank you very much,” Veronica says in a flat voice. She doesn’t reach out to Chad, doesn’t step away from Jughead. He’s still a wall between them, a physical barrier keeping her distant, keeping her away from Chad. Her gaze is cold when she turns it to him. “Go back to the room. Or don’t, Chad. I need to deal with this, okay?”

“What is there to even deal _with_ , Veronica?” Chad snaps, looking between the two of them.

“He doesn’t _know_?” Betty blurts before inhaling sharply like she hadn’t meant to say anything at all. Veronica clenches her jaw and doesn’t look at Betty at all.

“What the fuck is it that I’m supposed to know?” Chad shouts at the four of them.

Both Archie and Betty take a step towards Veronica, their matching glares deepening. The three of them surround her with fists clenched as if no time had passed at all. As if the hurt and betrayal that had driven them apart had never happened.

“Go back to the room, Chad,” Veronica orders. Chad stiffens a little, head jerking back like he’d been slapped. There’s a dismissal in Veronica’s voice that’s not to be argued with and Chad knows it just as well as Jughead does. Chad sniffs loudly before adjusting his jacket and spinning on his heel to march out of the hall. Veronica watches him go with lifeless eyes. Jughead barely has a chance to open his mouth before she’s cutting him off. “I don’t want to hear it. Let’s just get the fuck out of here.”

“Sure,” Jughead agrees with a quick nod.

The flask inside his jacket pocket seems heavy all of a sudden, his throat a little tighter, a little drier. He doubts Veronica would care if he took a sip. Hell, she would probably want a sip of her own. He takes the gamble and pulls the flask out, tilting it her way in silent invitation. He’s proven right when she snatches it from him, untwisting the cap and finishing the contents off quickly.

“We’re going to need more,” she mumbles once she’s done, shoving the flask into his chest. Veronica wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing her lipstick in a way that sixteen year old Veronica wouldn’t have dreamed of, before turning to Betty and Archie. “I refuse to dive into this town’s bullshit again sober.”

“I second that,” Jughead says, holding a hand up. “Spiked punch just isn’t cutting it anymore.”

“There’s the Wyrm,” Archie suggests after a long pause. Betty raises her eyebrows at him and he just shrugs in response. “Toni did say that we were always welcome, right?”

-

The Wyrm is about as dingy as it’s always been, the lights low and the floor sticky. The jukebox is still staticky and the bar lights still flicker when someone walks across the right floorboard. Jughead doesn’t know why he expected something different. The rest of the town has stayed the same, the White Wyrm is no exception.

“We’re closed,” the bartender grumbles without looking up from his newspaper. Hogeye hasn’t aged well but Jughead figures that’s what life as a Serpent will do to a person. Archie and Betty hover by the entrance as Veronica and Jughead head to the bar. “Boss says we’re not serving anyone tonight.”

“Not even a Jones?” Jughead asks, leaning forward and rapping the bar with his knuckles. Hogeye raises his eyes a little, scoffing at the sight of Jughead. “Hogeye. It’s me. Jughead.”

“I know who you are, boy,” Hogeye says, turning the page of his paper. Veronica barely manages to stifle the small laugh that she lets out. “Don’t matter much, though. Boss says we’re not serving anyone, then we’re not serving anyone.”

Jughead opens his mouth to argue but Veronica cuts him off, “Just give us a bottle and four glasses and we’ll be on our way. You’re not serving us anything.”

“Don’t think I don’t recognize you too, missy,” Hogeye mutters, shaking his head. “Like hell I don’t know when a Lodge walks through the door.”

“Then let me speak the language of my people,” Veronica says with a long sigh. She digs into her purse and pulls out her money clip. She makes a show of pulling out a hundred dollar bill and Hogeye makes a show of not watching her do it. “Consider this a tip. Plus whatever the bottle is gonna cost.”

Hogeye doesn’t look away from the newspaper as he reaches behind him to blindly grab a bottle. Veronica makes a tsking sound when the bottle he produces is half-full. Hogeye rolls his eyes and actually makes an effort to pick out a proper bottle for them to take. Veronica raises her eyebrows and reminds him, “And four glasses, please.”

Hogeye slams the bottle down on the bar in front of Jughead and offers a stack of four solo cups before holding his hand out for payment. Veronica pulls out another hundred dollar bill to hand over to Hogeye. He crumples both bills in his hand and shoves them into the front pocket of his vest. Veronica grabs the bottle before spinning on her heel and leaving the bar with Archie and Betty hot on her heels. Jughead leaves the solo cups behind and mutters something about giving Toni his best before he follows after them.

“Where exactly are we going?” Jughead asks once he’s caught up with the other three. Veronica has already opened the bottle and is taking a long drink with her eyes closed. “I suppose drinking in public works too.”

“Don’t be a pansy, Jones,” Veronica mutters, licking her lips. “You can’t carry a flask in your pocket and then judge me.”

“Don’t be a bitch, Lodge,” Jughead snaps back. His eyes dart to the back of Archie and Betty’s heads, heart pounding in his chest. “Oh, sorry, it’s Gomez, now, right? I guess Luna didn’t stick, did it?”

“Oh, fuck off,” Veronica replies before sipping from the bottle again. “Not everyone could lean into who we were in high school, okay?”

“What is _that_ supposed to mean?” Jughead says, reaching forward to grab Veronica’s arm. She spins around easily, dropping the bottle as she faces him. Jughead takes a moment to thank god for Archie’s quick reflexes as he catches the bottle before it crashes to the ground. “I did not _lean_ into who I was in high school.”

“Don’t make me laugh,” Veronica says, rolling her eyes. “The loner weirdo turned into a drunk author? Color me surprised. I could have predicted that shit in my sleep.”

“Right because you have it so much fucking better,” Jughead hisses through his teeth. He hasn’t let go of Veronica’s arm but she hasn’t pulled away either. In fact, she straightens her spine and steps closer, tilting her head back to meet his eyes. “At least I wasn’t hiding from my past - changing my name, keeping my teenage years a fucking secret.”

“Guys, we all ran away,” Archie interjects. He sips from the bottle, hissing a little before handing it to Betty. “We all ran away from this place but we’re back now and whoever it was that sent us those tapes ten years ago is still around.”

“But why?” Betty mumbles, pressing the rim of the bottle to her bottom lip. She takes a mincing sip, much like Archie had, and shakes her head. “I mean, Archie and I have been here for years at this point. Why wait until now?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Veronica asks with a sigh. “Whoever this voyeur is, they’re clearly someone we went to school with. Someone who is at the reunion and was probably waiting for all four of us to be together again.”

“And if we hadn’t shown then this would have been your typical ten year reunion without the sociopath who stalked all of us as teenagers,” Jughead says, taking the bottle from Betty. He raises it in a toast to the three of them. “Home sweet home, everybody.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Betty asks after a long silence. Jughead’s still drinking from the bottle, eyes rolled up into the back of his head. Veronica finds herself watching the way his throat bobs with each gulp.

Jughead makes a loud smacking noise once he’s gotten his fill and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before answering. “I, for one, am going to go back to my hotel room. Fight with my girlfriend, probably. Empty out the mini bar and then pass out. Hopefully in a bed. I have a flight to catch tomorrow.”

“Hard same,” Veronica agrees with a nod. Both Betty and Archie look shocked by their answers but Veronica can’t find it in her heart to care. “I left all of that shit behind or have you all forgotten that?”

“Veronica, we have to do something,” Betty insists, curling her hands into fists. Archie wraps an arm around Betty’s shoulders, pulling her a little closer, but it doesn’t seem to have the intended effect. Betty’s still taut as a bow and glaring at Veronica. “Whoever they are, the voyeur is back and we need to stop them.”

“Why?” Veronica asks, raising her eyebrows. She looks Archie directly in the eye, making it clear she was speaking to him and only him. “We were never part of this whole thing with the voyeur. Sure, we got some tapes but that’s it. We were never the targets, Archie.”

“Veronica,” Archie warns.

“No!” Veronica says, plunging ahead anyways. “We never said anything back in high school cause we were all friends, right? Well it’s not high school anymore and they’re not my friends anymore.”

“Jesus fucking christ,” Jughead mutters under his breath before drinking from the bottle again. Veronica spares him a momentary death glare before turning back to Betty and Archie.

“The voyeur only ever cared about Betty and Jughead,” Veronica says through her teeth. “Like every other murderer and psychopath in this town who has ever turned their evil eye on us. We’ve always been the collateral damage, Archie, and I’m done with it.”

“That’s rich coming from the girl whose father put a hit out on both myself and Archie,” Jughead says, smirking to himself. The bottle they got from Hogeye is almost empty and Veronica snatches it away from him before he can finish it off. “You didn’t hear us complaining when your family’s criminal enterprises threatened our lives now did you?”

Veronica closes her eyes in irritation before looking around them. They’re standing in the middle of the street, open to anyone and everyone who could walk by. It’s not the best of locations to be having this conversation even if it boils down to the simple fact that Veronica refuses to get pulled into any more Riverdale antics.

“Can we . . . is there somewhere more private that we can have this conversation?” Veronica asks finally, lowering her voice a little. “As much as I hate it, if we are being watched again we should at least try for some semblance of secrecy.”

“We could go to the house,” Archie offers with a shrug. “We’re not far.”

“You mean the first place that the voyeur probably bugged when they got back into town,” Jughead replies with a snort. “Great thinking, Archie.”

“How could they have possibly bugged my house?” Archie asks with an irritated sigh. “I haven’t had anyone over in weeks.”

“How did they bug your house the first time?” Jughead asks. “We. Don’t. Know. All we know is that they’re watching us again.”

“He’s right, Archie,” Betty says, looking up at him with a concerned frown. “We have to go somewhere a little more private than the house.”

“I can’t believe I’m about to suggest this but,” Veronica pauses for a long moment, looking between the three of them. “The sex bunker. It’s the obvious choice.”

They all make faces of general disgust but none of them disagree with her. No one wanted to think of Dilton’s bunker as the _sex_ bunker exactly but that’s what it became for them towards the end of high school.

“Do any of us even remember how to get there?” Archie asks. He holds up both hands. “I haven’t been there in a decade.”

“None of us have,” Jughead confirms, rolling his eyes. He eyes the bottle that’s still in Veronica’s hand before sighing. “I’m sure I can figure it out though. I just need a flashlight.”

“That’s what phones are for,” Veronica says, pulling her own out and turning the flashlight on. She lights up the woods near them and gestures with the bottle. “Lead the way, Serpent King.”

“Don’t start with that shit,” Jughead mumbles as he follows suit and pulls up the flashlight on his own phone. Archie and Betty do the same and look to Jughead for guidance. “Well, let us not go quiet into the dark and all that, right?”

Veronica makes a point of flipping off his retreating back as he marches into the woods. And much like the idiots that they, Archie, Betty, and Veronica are close behind him.

-

The deeper they go into the woods, the colder it seems to get. Veronica watches the bars on her phone slowly disappear until she doesn’t have any service. She wonders if Chad is worried about her. If he’s waiting in the hotel room or if he drove back to the city tonight. She probably should have gone back with him instead of letting the voyeur - no, letting the _past_ get to her.

Despite the cold biting at her fingers, the mud ruining her boots, and the threat of yet another sociopath hot on their heels, Veronica feels warm inside with Archie and Betty flanking her. She knows that it’s nostalgia and cheap rum just drugging her into complacency but she wants to lean into it. She wants to let it all make her feel better, to make this newest chapter of fucked-up-ness a little less fucked up.

 _Or maybe I just need to sober up_ , she thinks as she nearly trips over a root.

Archie wraps an arm around her waist, catching her at the last moment and holding her up. His arms feel good around her, natural even. Veronica almost laughs at herself for wanting to lean into him, for wanting him to stay wrapped around her.

“Shouldn’t be too far now,” Archie mumbles as he helps Veronica get steady. He doesn’t hold onto her any longer than he has to, doesn’t give her any sign that his own mind is wandering the way hers is. “Think you can manage it?”

“This isn’t my first jaunt in the woods in heels,” Veronica reminds him. Betty smiles politely but Veronica doesn’t miss the way she laces her fingers through Archie’s and squeezes tight. “Just wish I knew how much longer it was going to be!”

“Patience is a virtue!” Jughead calls back, flipping her off over his shoulder. “Not like I know exactly where I’m going either.”

“You said you knew,” Veronica hisses at his back.

“Guys, can you not fight?” Betty asks with a grimace. “It’s bad enough that we have to do this, we don’t need to make any of this harder on each other.”

“Oh, excuse me, I forgot. I’m supposed to be magnanimous about my life being threatened _again_ because of you people,” Veronica snaps before she can stop herself. Betty gasps as if Veronica had slapped her across the face. “Betty. I’m -”

“No,” Betty interrupts, holding up a hand. It’s dark in the forest but there’s enough light for all of them to see the tears shining in her eyes. “It’s fine. You have every right to feel that way. I just . . . give me a minute, alright?”

“Of course,” Veronica mumbles as Betty walks off into the woods. Archie stays close to Betty, wrapping an arm around her waist as if he’s the only thing keeping her standing and whispering something into the crown of her head.

“That was real smooth, Lodge,” Jughead says, walking back to her. Veronica scoffs and rolls her eyes but she doesn’t have anything to say. He’s not wrong. She could have handled that entire moment better. “Glad to see that we got all that therapy we needed back in high school. We’ve all really grown as people.”

“Oh, shut up,” Veronica snaps just as he starts to laugh at her. Veronica turns off the flashlight on her phone and shoves her hands into her pockets, huddling in on herself for warmth. “Be honest. How fucking lost are we?”

“So goddamn lost,” Jughead replies with a sigh. He runs a hand through his hair before copying Veronica and shoving his hands into his pockets. He tilts his head back and sighs up at the full moon. “I wish I had a cigarette.”

“You really did lean into the moody writer stereotype, didn’t you?” Veronica asks with a laugh.

She supposes that if it were any other night that question might have chafed but Jughead just laughs with her and shrugs. Maybe he’s drunker than she realizes. He did have that flask in his pocket, after all. Veronica pushes away her questioning and digs into her purse to pull out the small cigarette case that she carries on long drives.

“You’re lucky that I chain smoke on road trips,” Veronica mutters as she lights her last cigarette. She blows the smoke upwards and holds the cigarette up for Jughead’s mouth. Jughead nearly trips over himself in his rush to lower himself so that he can puff on the end. His lips brush against her fingers with no hesitation and he gets a nose full of her hand lotion. “You’re going to have to share, though. It’s my last one.”

“My knight in shining Prada,” Jughead says before exhaling up into the sky the same way Veronica had. He feels his shoulders relax a fraction of an inch. When she brings the cigarette back to her mouth there’s the faintest hint of Jughead left on the filter.

“More like Frada,” Veronica mutters with a snort. She holds the cigarette back out for Jughead and smirks when he leans down for a puff. “I sold most of the designer label stuff in college.”

“And yet you carry hundred dollar bills in your wallet,” Jughead points out because he can’t help himself.

“That was money for the entire weekend,” Veronica says with a sigh. “But sometimes you have to play the part, right? That’s what Riverdale wants of us, isn’t it? To play our parts?”

“Careful, Veronica,” Jughead says, snatching the cigarette from her fingers and inhaling deeply. He hollows out his cheeks and smirks a little at the way Veronica stares until he exhales just above her head. She frowns and waves a hand in front of her face. “You might give someone the impression that you’re bitter.”

“Like you aren’t?” Veronica asks with a slight laugh. “Like you don’t walk around feeling like this fucking town stole every chance you had - like every opportunity to be better, to do better, was taken from us! And here we are - letting it take some more!”

“You don’t have to stay here,” Jughead replies quickly, flicking the cigarette butt off into the woods. “No one is keeping you here. You could go back to Chad and just walk away.”

Veronica sucks on her teeth and looks over to where Archie and Betty have disappeared. Her boots sink a little deeper into the wet, leafy forest floor as she shifts under Jughead’s probing state. It feels like the quiet stretches on for hours before Veronica says, “You know just as well as me how hard it is to walk away from them.”

“Then how about you cut the bullshit,” Jughead asks with an irritated sigh. He tries to find Archie and Betty amongst the trees but it’s too dark and they’ve walked too far away. It doesn’t make any sense for them to wander and Jughead feels the familiar pang of worry in his gut. “As old hat as being stalked and threatened is, we’re all freaked out.”

“I just don’t understand the point!” Veronica shouts at the sky. She runs a hand through her hair and starts to pace back and forth. “What’s the point of making us go through all of this all over again? They won! Whoever they are they won when we all left town without looking back! What more could they possibly want from us?”

“It wasn’t about getting away with it,” Jughead says. He takes hold of her arm and pulls her a little closer, lowering his voice as he continues. “It was always about making us suffer. About hurting us.”

“I just don’t understand why though,” Veronica whispers. She bites her bottom lip and steps into Jughead’s space a little more. He smells like cheap cologne and cigarettes, a familiar scent in a way. “It’s been a decade. Who the fuck cares what happened in high school?”

“I might have an idea,” Jughead mutters. He still can’t find Betty and Archie amongst the trees but he thinks he sees a flashlight bobbing in the distance. “Though, right now, I don’t think we’re alone.”

“Duh,” Veronica says, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure once Betty and Archie are done doing whatever it is they’re doing, they’ll be back. Don’t worry, Jones.”

“I’m not talking about Betty and Archie,” Jughead hisses, gripping Veronica’s arm a little tighter. He doesn’t explain any further before yanking her after him as he turns to go deeper into the woods. “I’m talking about whoever it is with the flashlight.”

“Slow down!” Veronica shouts at his back as she stumbles after him. She yanks her arm free but Jughead just reaches back and wraps his arm around her waist, dragging her with him. “Seriously, Jughead, you’re overreacting!”

“No,” Jughead says as he stumbles through the woods blindly. He doesn’t know if they’re being followed or not. He’s not willing to stop and find out. “You’re under reacting. We’re in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night. Who else would be out here other than the psychopath who’s been stalking all of us for a decade?”

“You’re paranoid!” Veronica snaps though she does nothing to stop running forward with Jughead. She chances a glance over her shoulder but doesn’t see the supposed flashlight follower. “There’s no one back there!”

“Just keep running,” Jughead shouts over his shoulder as he loosens his grip on her and rushes ahead a few feet. “I’m pretty sure there’s a clearing up here.”

“Right, cause your memory has been so reliable tonight,” Veronica grumbles as Jughead disappears into a thick line of trees. Veronica hisses under her breath and glances over her shoulder again. She sees the bouncing light of a flashlight this time and picks up her pace a little to catch up with Jughead.

For once, Jughead is right and there is a clearing just beyond the line of trees he’d slipped through. The quiet of the clearing rushes in on Veronica, almost making her ears pop. There are candles everywhere, creating a soft glow that’s both soothing and eerie. She gets the feeling that she doesn’t belong there, that she’s clearly intruding on something that she has no right to see.

Veronica looks around for Jughead, eyes skipping over the way the candles coalesce in one spot. How there seems to be lines painted on the ground and herbs burning in a pile. Veronica’s heart starts to pound out of her chest as she remembers how Dilton was found dead in the woods, signs of ritual toture marring his body. She refuses to become another statistic in Riverdale.

“Jughead?” Veronica finally manages to croak out. There’s a rustle from her left and she feels herself being compelled to turn that way. She’d been avoiding looking that way, had sensed that whatever it was that was to her left it would be world changing.

“This is bothersome,” the blonde with the glowing white eyes and the crown of thorns says. She has Jughead gripped by the throat and dangling a foot above the ground. Jughead’s eyes are bulging and he’s clawing at the blonde’s hand but it’s doing nothing to free him. The woman turns her white, hot gaze onto Veronica, raising her dark brown eyebrows in surprise. “Two interlopers. Extra bothersome.”

“Easily handled though,” a similar voice says just as a hand grips Veronica’s throat. Veronica lets out a silent scream and claws at the hand on her throat. The woman in front of her is identical to the girl holding Jughead except her eyes are pitch black and endless. “They’ll just have to come along.”

“And that’s not going to make everything worse?” the white eyed woman asks. “Time is so delicate, after all.”

“Yes, because we both know how much you care about delicacies,” the black eyed woman replies, rolling her eyes. She smirks at Veronica like they’re both in on a private joke, as if nothing that’s happening at the moment is entirely out of the ordinary. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. They’re not from Greendale and how much harm could they possibly do to their own timelines?”

“Famous last words, Spellman,” the white eyed woman says with a put out sigh.

“Trust me, Morningstar,” Spellman says, turning her smirking smile to her twin. “Just start the spell. We don’t have much time.”

Morningstar sighs and rolls her eyes before reaching out to grab Spellman’s hand. Their skin starts to morph together and their voices ring out in one piercing sound. Veronica and Jughead both dangle uselessly as the women’s eyes roll into the back of their heads and their mouths grow into elongated caricatures of what mouths are supposed to be.

Black spots start to dance in front of Veronica’s eyes and tears pour down her cheeks. She’s going to die. She’s sure of it. She’s going to die in Riverdale with Jughead Jones by her side. Veronica reaches out blindly, fingers wiggling in the cold air, desperate to grab onto him in some small way.

Her fingers brush against something warm and soft, the faintest hint of hair and goosebumps. It doesn’t take Jughead long to grab her hand and lace their fingers together. Veronica tries to squeeze tight, tries to show him that she’s there with him but the strength is fading from her limbs. The black spots are turning into black blotches. There’s a rushing sound in her ears and the chanting from the blondes feels like it’s seeping into Veronica’s very soul as the blackness rushes in fully and Veronica loses consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they’d left riverdale. started new lives. formed new relationships. grew as people. but the town of pep still isn’t done with the core four.
> 
> after realizing the voyeur is still out there, jughead, veronica, betty, and archie seek refuge in dilton’s bunker - the only place that’s somehow managed to escape the voyeur’s watchful eye. but ten years have passed and the core four are quickly lost and separated in the darkness of fox forest until veronica and jughead stumble upon a dark ritual that flings them back to the night of the jubliee. 
> 
> desperate for answers and a way to get back to the future, veronica and jughead follow their only lead to greendale and the spellman mortuary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here for your reading pleasure is part two! as usual comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. *does a little bow*

The past twenty-four hours rushes back in on Veronica like a sledgehammer and her eyes open with a start. Her head starts to spin, dropping her to her knees. Veronica rests her forehead against the cool ceramic of the sink she’s standing in front of, trying to take a few deep breaths through her nose. 

Veronica tries to remember what her therapist told her about finding things in the room to list, giving her mind a focus and a center. She’d never been prone to panic attacks in high school but once she wasn’t constantly fighting for her life, they’d become a regular occurrence in college. 

Once she’s managed to scrape together some semblance of calm, Veronica assesses her surroundings. It’s her bathroom at the Pembroke - lavender tile and white roses in a gold vase, her makeup strewn everywhere and her velvet robe hanging on the hook by the door. The face that greets her in the mirror isn’t the face that she’s used to - it’s about fifteen years too young with long straight hair and perfectly painted features. There’s a certain amount of care and pageantry in her appearance that Veronica had given up a long time ago. 

Veronica looks down at herself and tries to keep breathing calmly. The last thing she needs to do is go into a panic spiral. A bit of her old pragmatism comes back, telling her to hold it together no matter how impossible that might seem. 

She’s dressed like a teenager with too much time and money on her hands - black fit and flare dress and heels, gold accessories and the hint of perfume on her skin. Veronica almost laughs at how ridiculous she used to be - Cheryl almost died and she’d gotten dressed as if she were getting coffee with friends. 

“Veronica?” Archie asks through the door. Veronica’s stomach swoops at the sound. It’s still sweet and ever cheerful, none of the tired pain that she’d grown so used to during their senior year is there. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Never better!” Veronica calls back. She makes eye contact with her reflection. This is before they were together. Or the beginning of being together, depending on how you looked at it. For a tender moment, Veronica imagines sinking into this fantastical nightmare and reliving the sweet, exciting love she’d felt in the beginning before she even knew what love was. It’s tempting. So fucking tempting. “Just freshening up.”

“Listen,” Archie continues, voice low and sweet and caring. Veronica feels like she’s been punched in the stomach. She clutches the edge of the sink and wills herself to hold it together just a little longer, just until she can get rid of him. “Veronica. If you’re . . . if you’re scared. Or something like that. You can talk to me. You can _always_ talk to me.”

Veronica inhales sharply and grits her teeth. It feels like something is cracking her down the middle but she swallows it down, swallows down the urge to scream, and calls out, “Don’t worry about me, Archiekins. I just need a minute. You and Betty should head to the hospital, though. That hand isn’t going to fix itself.”

“Ronnie,” Archie says like he wants to say something else. He must think better of it though because the next minute he’s rapping his knuckles against the bathroom door and whispering a soft goodbye. 

As soon as his footsteps fade away, Veronica lets out a gasping breath. If she were anyone else, it could have been called a sob. Naturally, Veronica would deny such a claim with her dying breath. She refuses to mourn something that she lost a decade ago, regardless of what body she’s in. That thought alone is enough to dry her tears. 

Veronica does her best to clean herself up, fixing her makeup and finger combing her hair nervously. She hates how long it is. She’d gotten used to having shorter hair after cutting it in college - a move high school Veronica would never have dreamed of. Which was exactly why she’d done it the day that she’d signed the papers giving Pop’s back to the Tate family where it belonged. 

When she looks something like her old self - her current self - whatever self she was supposed to resemble, Veronica finally leaves the bathroom. As she slowly wanders the hallway that leads back to the living room, she crosses her fingers that Archie listened and had Betty take him to the hospital. 

Betty and Jughead had taken him last time, leaving her alone with Cheryl until the jubilee. Cheryl, she can handle, especially in her half-comatose state, but Veronica doesn’t think she could face Betty Cooper with her tight ponytail and sweet, sixteen year old face. 

-

“Jughead?” Betty asks just as the world rushes back in on him. Jughead takes a deep breath and jerks back from her, crashing into a side table and gaining both Archie and Cheryl’s attention. “Juggie? Are you okay?”

Jughead blinks over and over again, trying to clear away the image in front of him. Betty already looks tired from the craziness of the day but her frown seems to deepen somehow, making her seem so much older than the sweet sixteen that she is. That they all are. Archie’s hair is wild and out of control, a letterman jacket resting on his shoulders while Cheryl is a drowned rat in white in front of the fireplace. 

“Seriously, Jughead,” Archie says, walking towards him slowly. “Sit down, man. You’re, like, crazy pale all of the sudden.”

Jughead jerks away from his outstretched hand and collapses onto the velvet loveseat behind him. He closes his eyes and tries to breathe through his nose, tries to will himself back to the woods with Veronica, to the hotel room with Jessica. Hell, he would even take being in the middle of the ballroom of the Five Seasons right now. Anything other than the truth that’s glaring him in the face.

When Jughead opens his eyes again, Archie has left the room. Betty is still staring at him with a concerned frown but she’s keeping her distance at least. He remembers this day. Mainly for Cheryl’s attempted suicide and telling Betty that he loved her for the first time but there’s also the memory of Archie, Veronica, and Betty bursting into Southside High’s cafeteria to “rescue” him from a life on the Southside.

It had never occurred to them that he didn’t need to be rescued. That despite spending freshman year at Riverdale High, he’d been living in the trailer park since middle school and knew enough names and faces to get by. It had been the first hint of the gap that existed between himself and his Northside friends but they had all brushed it off with a hug and a laugh. They’d ignored the glaring difference between himself and them because of _friendship_ and _love_. 

The thought is enough to make Jughead laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Betty asks, sharply. Her hands are curled into fists and Jughead is sure that there’s blood pooling beneath her nails. “Jughead, are you sure that you’re okay? You’re acting weird.”

“Must be shock,” Jughead mumbles, running a hand over his face. “It’s been a really long day.”

“Of course,” Betty says, instantly sweet and understanding in that desperate way of hers. She gingerly sits next to him on the loveseat, placing a hand on his thigh and gripping tight. “I mean, with everything, I’ve barely even checked on you.”

“Checked on me?” Jughead repeats. “Cheryl is who we need to be checking on.”

“Cheryl will be fine,” Betty says, rolling her eyes. She might have helped to solve her brother’s murder but that didn’t mean that Betty Cooper had forgiven Cheryl for years of torment. “How are you dealing with your dad being arrested, Jug? We’ve barely talked about it.”

“I don’t think now is the best time, Betts,” Jughead says with a bitter laugh at how easily the nickname comes out. He can’t quite meet her eyes but that doesn’t stop Betty from trying. “We just barely saved Cheryl’s life and Arch’s hand is broken and I don’t really have the capacity for this right now.”

“Jughead,” Betty says softly, finally pulling her hand away from him. She’s hurt. He can hear it in her voice but he forces himself not to cave in. It feels like pulling teeth. Especially against the Betty Cooper that he fell in love with, the Betty Cooper that he’s always been in love with. “I just want to be here for you. You know that, right?”

“Of course,” Jughead mumbles before jumping up from the loveseat. He rubs his sweaty palms against his thighs and starts to pace a little bit. “Wonder what’s taking Archie so long?”

“He’s checking on Veronica,” Betty replies slowly. She makes that face that means she’s puzzling something out. Jughead’s stomach swoops a little at the thought that he’s the puzzle in this situation. “Jughead, are you _sure_ that you’re okay? That . . . well, that _we’re_ okay?”

“Of course we are,” Jughead replies instantly. That lack of hesitation doesn’t do anything to quiet the distrust on Betty’s face. Jughead swallows the lump in his throat and kneels down in front of her, deliberately taking both of her hands in his own. “It’s just been a wild day. I promise.”

Betty sighs in relief, nodding and holding his hands tight. She leans forward and kisses him gently. It’s so soft and tender, Jughead almost doesn’t react at all. He’s sure Betty senses _this_ moment of hesitation but Jughead pressing his mouth against hers silences any comment she might have. 

It’s a little rough around the edges with none of the sweet innocence that characterized all of their kisses at the beginning. He’s not a sixteen year old virgin anymore. He knows how to kiss a woman, knows how to make her knees knock together and her underwear wet. That’s how he kisses Betty Cooper right now because he never got to kiss her like this. Not even when they were going through their golden phase, when it was just them against the world. 

Betty groans a little, surprising them both, before sinking into the kiss and deepening it for a brief moment. She jerks away first, eyes wide and mouth a little puffy. Her mouth forms his name even though no sound leaves her lips. He can already see the question forming in her eyes. She may not immediately jump to a future version of himself occupying the current version of himself but the question _who are you_ is there all the same. 

It’s a perfect moment for Archie to wander back into the living room, looking a little dazed. He’s still holding his towel wrapped hand close to his waist, cradling it from jostling anymore than it needs to. For a second, Jughead thinks that the pain might be getting to him but something about his brown eyes says it’s more than that. Jughead doesn’t remember Archie and Veronica fighting tonight but maybe his memory is wrong, maybe this is how everything went. 

“Archie?” Betty asks, pushing Jughead away and standing up. Her cheeks are bright pink but Jughead doesn’t know if it’s because of his kiss or because of Archie. “Is Veronica okay?”

“Uh, I think so?” Archie replies with a frown. He scratches the back of his neck and looks over his shoulder back down the hallway. “She said not to worry about her but she also wouldn’t come out of the bathroom.”

“That doesn’t mean anything, Arch,” Betty says, reaching out and resting a hand on his shoulder. She squeezes a little, her thumb rubbing up and down the side of Archie’s neck to try and relax him. It’s an instinctual action, something that Betty’s done for years without it meaning anything, but, knowing what Jughead knows, he can’t help but zero in on that spot. Betty must notice his intense staring because she jerks her hand away, pressing her fist into her thigh instead. “It’s been a weird day for all of us.”

“Right,” Archie agrees though he doesn’t look like he believes her. Jughead briefly wonders if it’s the day that they’ve had or maybe he’s not alone on this crazy trip back in time. He hadn’t been alone in the clearing, he’d run into it with Veronica. He remembers her clearly enough even if the circumstances of how all of this happened is still vague. “I need to get to the hospital. My hand, you know?”

“Oh my god, Archie, of course!” Betty says, jumping into action immediately. It’s what she’s needed this whole time - a mission, a purpose to guide the extra energy in her limbs. It all halts for a brief moment when she remembers. “Cheryl.”

“I’ll watch her,”Jughead offers quickly. He doesn’t think he could handle any more time with either of them, anymore time playing this strange game of pretend that isn’t really pretend. “I mean, I can stay. Betty, you should take him.”

“Are you sure?” Betty asks with a frown. He can see on her face that she’d wanted them both to go with Archie. “I’m sure Veronica can handle Cheryl.”

“Betts,” he lets the nickname slip out even if it feels like a lie. But it has the intended effect. Betty softens a little and nods in agreement. “Text me later.”

“Of course,” Betty says. She comes back to him briefly to press a kiss to his cheek. She hesitates for just a moment by his mouth before standing up straight and adjusting her ponytail. “Come on, Archie.”

Archie nods and heads to the door, muttering, “How mad do you think my dad is going to be that I broke my hand again?”

Betty chuckles a little and pats his shoulder. Once again, Jughead zones in on the point of contact. It’s nothing really. Nothing at all that should matter to any of them but he can’t help playing the game of 20/20 hindsight. It was all there for him to see if he wanted to. He just never wanted to. 

“Jughead?” Betty asks, waving her hand a little to get his attention. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Promise,” Jughead assures her, doing his best to seem chipper and agreeable. Or as chipper and agreeable as angsty, sixteen year old Jughead could be. It's enough to satisfy Betty at least. She gives him one more tentative smile before pushing Archie out the door of the penthouse. Jughead deflates a little bit and repeats it to himself. “Promise.”

“Your Romeo and Juliet drama isn’t going to end well,” Cheryl says in a flat tone from in front of the fireplace. Jughead jumps out of his skin, hand going to his chest to stop his heart from bursting free. He’d nearly forgotten she was even there. “You’re little Northside, Southside thing will only go so far.”

“I thought you were in shock,” Jughead mutters. He crouches down and inches towards her like he’s approaching a wild animal. “You seemed very shock like.”

“But I’m not blind,” Cheryl says with a cruel laugh. Jughead sneers at her silhouette but doesn’t attempt to correct her. She’s not wrong. He’s just surprised that someone else could see it before he could. “And, to be perfectly honest, your sudden pairing up isn’t nearly as interesting as the two of you would like to believe.”

“I can’t tell if this is your usual brand of cruel honesty or the shock talking,” Jughead says, narrowing his eyes at her. Cheryl snorts and rolls her eyes but Jughead thinks there might just be the hint of a smile on her face. Jughead licks his lips and leans forward a little, trying to catch Cheryl’s eye. “Were you really trying to kill yourself?”

He’d never gotten the chance to ask before and he’s always wondered. She never shows another moment of weakness like this again. It’s a blip in the unstoppable force that is Cheryl Blossom. But the question lingers for years and he never managed to puzzle it out, never really understood just what was going through Cheryl’s mind as she walked to the center of Sweetwater River. 

“Looking for character motivation for your book?” Cheryl asks but her voice doesn't carry it’s usual bite. Jughead shakes his head once, keeping his mouth shut. “It was an accident and as soon as I’ve dried off I’m going to go home.”

“Cheryl.”

She cuts him off with a pointed look, cutting off whatever it was he was about to say. After a long moment of silence, Cheryl nods in satisfaction before turning back to the fireplace. Jughead watches her for another minute, waiting to see if she’s going to show any more signs of life, before standing up and turning towards the hallway. 

Veronica is standing in the shadows, staring at Jughead and Cheryl with wide eyes. Something about the look in her eye catches Jughead off guard, makes a chill run down his spine. There’s something there. Something that screams at Jughead that they’re the same - they’re both thrust into the past against their will and he’s not alone. 

The light from the fireplace casts an eerie shadow across his face but the look on Jughead’s face when she steps into the room is answer enough to whether or not she’s alone on this wacky journey. She barely has a moment to process the flurry of emotions she’s feeling before he’s rushing across the room to her. He crowds her back into the hallway, blindly pushing her into a coat closet and locking the door behind them.

“What the fuck, Jughead?” Veronica hisses, pushing him away from her and turning on the light all in one blinding motion. “Have you totally lost your mind?”

“I mean, that would be the logical explanation for why the fuck we’re back in our sixteen year old bodies and not still in Fox Forest,” Jughead replies with a slightly manic laugh. “Cause, really, there _isn’t_ any logical explanation. Time travel isn’t a thing, right? It’s not scientifically possible!”

Veronica grabs the lapels of Jughead’s jacket and gives him a solid shake. He bats her hands away and stumbles into her mother’s collection of fur coats. If they weren’t in the middle of an impossible scenario, it might have been funny. Veronica smothers the smirk that wants to creep onto her face and does her best to sound calm and collected as she says, “Clearly, time travel _is_ a thing and whatever it was we stumbled on in the woods is what sent us back here.”

“The woods?” Jughead mumbles, frowning. His eyes go distant for a long moment as he tries to remember what happened. His body might be sixteen but his memories are still the half drunk, hazy memories of his thirty year old self. It comes to him in a brilliant flash. “Oh fuck! The woods! Those women!”

Veronica rolls her eyes and asks, “Jesus, how drunk were you?”

“Oh fuck off,” Jughead snaps. “You weren’t exactly Sober Sally tonight either.”

“Yeah, entirely through your enabling!” Veronica points out. “I was not the one producing a flask every five minutes, now was I?”

“What about _fuck off_ do you not get?”Jughead snaps without thinking. “How about you save the moral high ground bullshit for when we aren’t stuck in some B-grade _Back to the Future_ knock-off?”

He reaches up to run a hand through his hair but is momentarily frozen when he encounters his hat. The original one. Not the one that Betty had knit him that was still stashed somewhere in the house at Elm Street. Jughead tries to wrap his head around the thought that the one Betty made hadn’t even been knit yet but only succeeds in giving himself a headache. 

“Veronica?” Hermione calls out from the living room. Veronica pinches her nose and curses under her breath. Jughead rolls his eyes and throws his head back dramatically before turning away from her entirely to hide amongst her family’s jackets.Veronica mimes strangling him before leaving the closet. “Veronica?”

“Here, Mother,” Veronica says with a slight smile. Cheryl is still staring into the fire but her eyes aren’t quite as vacant. There’s a bit of her old fire in her eyes and it does nothing to comfort Veronica. She knows exactly where that fire leads - especially tonight. “I’m here.”

“Mija,” Hermione mutters, taking Veronica by the arm. She directs Veronica towards the kitchen and frowns at Cheryl. “Is there a reason that Cheryl Blossom is in our living room looking like a drowned rat?” 

“She tried to kill herself,” Veronica whispers. Hermione’s eyes widen for a brief moment before hardening into a familiar look of resolve. Veronica wonders why she never told her mother things when they were younger, when she’d actually needed help instead of playing ridiculous mind games with her for months before her father came home. “She refused a hospital and you _know_ what the Blossoms are like and now? After everything with Clifford?”

“You don’t have to remind me, Veronica. I am perfectly aware what her home life is like but we are not capable of helping her. She needs a professional,” Hermione says, tapping her chin. She checks her watch and sighs a little before narrowing her eyes at Veronica. “Are you okay, mija?”

Veronica straightens her spine a little and tries to look as innocent as she can. It's nearly impossible to do. Not when she knows so much more now than she did when she was actually sixteen. Not when she understands so much more. Not only about herself but about her mother, about their relationship. About the mistakes that they both kept making because they had been so blind to everything that Hiram did to them over the years. By the time they were truly and completely free from his clutches, it was too late to fix their fractured relationship. 

“I’m fine!” Veronica chirps. She almost cringes at how chipper she sounds. Hermione’s probing stare doesn’t waver but Veronica doesn’t flinch. At least she still had the steady hand of a thirty year old. “Seriously, Mom. Today has just been so crazy and I am just as tired as Cheryl is.”

“I’m calling the family doctor to check on her, at the very least,” Hermione continues though her eyes lose none of their wariness. She reaches out and runs a finger along Veronica’s cheek, tiling her head up a little for closer inspection. “Maybe he should look you over too. Just to be safe.”

“Mother,” Veronica whines, rolling her eyes. She takes her mother’s hand in her own and presses a quick kiss to her knuckles. “I’m a Lodge. Trust me. I’m fine.”

Hermione’s eyes widen the faintest bit and Veronica cringes internally. She might have been laying it on a bit thick with the pro-Lodge talk. It’s too early in her timeline for that sort of behavior. Veronica tries to remember exactly what it was she was mad about this time but the trauma of Cheryl’s attempted suicide and the bliss of her first night with Archie has faded the rest of the day in her memory. 

“Don’t you have to head to the jubilee?” Veronica asks with raised eyebrows. She’s sure that Jughead is slowly losing his mind in the closet. Or maybe he went back to the living room. Maybe he’s tossing her father’s office, looking for a way to topple the Lodge empire sooner rather than later. She forces her teeth into something that could resemble a smile and tries to guide her mother back towards the door. “I can wait with Cheryl until the doctor shows up.”

“You’re rushing me,” Hermione says even though she goes willingly. She has her phone in her hand, though, pulling up the family doctor’s information. “Why? Who else is here? Is it Archie?”

“Why can’t you just trust me?” Veronica asks with an impatient sigh. “You’re always going on about trusting you and believing you. Why can’t you do the same for me?”

“You’re right,” Hermione says, holding both hands up in defeat. She waves Veronica away just as she hits the call button on her phone. “Go check on Cheryl. I’ll leave as soon as I get off the phone.”

Veronica leans forward to kiss her cheek quickly, muttering a quick thanks, before she takes the few steps back to the living room. Cheryl gives Veronica a slow look over her shoulder. It’s not quite calculating even though Veronica is sure that’s what she’s aiming for. Veronica can understand the urge to pull up those old defenses, to hide any sign of weakness regardless of how obvious it is.

Veronica rolls her eyes and kneels down next to Cheryl, adjusting the blanket around her shoulders. Cheryl opens her mouth to say something snotty, Veronica is sure, but she cuts her off with a single raised eyebrow. Cheryl deflates slightly, pouting almost, as she pulls the blanket around her tighter. 

“Veronica? I’ve got it!” Jughead announces as he bursts into the living room with his phone held in his hand. “Spellman Mortuary in Greendale. I always heard rumors about, like, devil worship and witchcraft in Greendale. Plus there was that whole G&G faction there with their own gamemaster and everything when me and Archie were on the run. It’s the perfect place to start investigating.”

Hermione, naturally, also chooses that moment to come back into the living room with wide eyes. Her eyes dart between Jughead and Veronica, panic slowly filling them. Veronica groans and rushes to her mother’s side before she completely loses it.

“Mother, you remember Jughead Jones from the diner, right?” Veronica asks, blocking him out of her mother’s view with her body. “He’s always on his laptop, working on a book? That’s what he’s talking about. His book.”

“His book?” Hermione asks. She reaches out and grips Veronica’s elbows, pulling her a little closer. 

“Yes,” Veronica says with a smile. She lowers her voice a little bit and tries to seem like she’s letting Hermione in on a little secret. “With his dad being in jail and transferring schools, Archie and Betty both asked me to keep an eye on him.”

“You didn’t mention him,” Hermione mutters, watching Jughead closely over Veronica’s shoulder. “And I swore he said G&G.”

“G&G?” Veronica asks, frowning. She laughs a little and makes a show of looking her mother over the same way she had done to Veronica a moment ago. “Are you sure? That sounds made up, Mom.”

Hermione latches onto the excuse quickly, not eager to delve into the G&G darkness in her own life just yet, “Of course. Just. You’re turning us into a home for wayward youths, Veronica. It’s not like you.”

Veronica shrugs and rubs her mother’s upper arms a little. It all feels like an act just to get rid of her mother but there’s a glimmer of truth in what she says next, “I told myself that Riverdale would be a fresh start, remember? That includes being a better friend.”

“I’m not complaining, Veronica,” Hermione insists, smiling softly. “I’m proud of you and I know that it’s been . . . hard, lately. Especially with your father coming home. But I don’t want you to ever forget just how proud of you I am.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Veronica mumbles before pulling Hermione into a tight hug. Jughead snorts a little behind them but makes it a point to turn away from their moment of familial love. “You better get going.”

“Dr. Bessinger will be here in half an hour,” Hermione says quietly in Veronica’s ear. “Andre will let him in through the servant’s entrance.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Veronica repeats, squeezing her mother a little tighter. She’s never been prone to sentimentality but Veronica settles into it right now. In the midst of yet another Riverdale-induced crisis, Veronica can’t deny how good it feels to be held by her mother. “I’ll text you later.”

Hermione says her goodbyes, giving both Jughead and Cheryl long, dry looks. She might be proud of Veronica but that doesn’t mean she necessarily approves of using their penthouse as a halfway house. Once the door locks behind her, Veronica lets out a long sigh and feels her spine relax into a slouch that’s entirely unlike herself. Enough so that Cheryl breaks free from her comatose state for a brief moment to comment on it, “You’ll grow a hump if you slouch like that.”

“Oh good, you’re still capable of being critical,” Veronica says with a sigh. “At least we know there isn’t any brain damage or anything.”

Naturally, Cheryl doesn’t say anything in response.

“Well, if you’re done, can we please deal with this time travel thing?” Jughead asks, snapping his fingers at Veronica. He gestures at his phone with a finger. “I have a lead. So let’s get going.”

“Can you stop?” Veronica snaps, gesturing towards Cheryl. Jughead rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to argue with her. Veronica lurches forward and covers his mouth with her hand, grabbing him by his jacket and dragging him back down the hallway to her room. “Do you want her to think we’re both insane?”

“She’s practically a shock zombie,” Jughead snaps, jerking his arm free. Veronica locks the door behind them and rests her forehead against the door. She lets her shoulders relax for a minute as Jughead continues to talk. “And I, for one, am over this little trip to the past.”

“If we really did travel back in time don’t you think shouting about G&G and running away with Archie might just affect the future?” Veronica asks, turning around to face him. He’s pacing back and forth in front of her bed, twisting his hat between his hands. “Aren’t you supposed to be all knowing about things like the time space continuum?”

“Sounds like you’re educated enough for the both of us,” Jughead points out. He’s stopped pacing and is staring at her with wide eyes, letting his hands drop to his sides. He looks so fucking young in the denim jacket that’s too big for his narrow frame. Veronica wonders if he borrowed it from his dad or Archie’s dad, either would offer up his jacket for him. “Besides, if you really gave a shit about keeping things the same you would be at the jubilee right now. Isn’t tonight your big night with Archie?”

“And yours with Betty?” Veronica fires back. “You’re not exactly running off to relive the glory days of Bughead, now are you?”

She hadn’t considered actually following through with her first night with Archie. Sure, the very fabric of the future and the life Veronica lived was possibly at stake but she can’t imagine being intimate with him. Not with all the heartache and betrayal they both went through for each other. Not with the possibility of Chad waiting for her in the future. If she’s stuck in this body, if she’s going to be forced to relive it all, she refuses to make the same mistakes twice and it all starts with Archie. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Veronica answers her own question. She crosses her arms and nods at his phone. “You said you had a lead?”

Jughead narrows his eyes at her but doesn’t push the obvious button. He just pulls up his map app and enters the address for the Spellman Mortuary. Veronica waits patiently for a minute, tapping her finger against her arm, before giving in and snapping, “Well?”

“It’s a two hour drive to the Spellman Mortuary,” Jughead says, ignoring her short tone. “But while you were placating your mother, I figured something else out. The Spellman family goes back to the founding of Greendale _and_ the Greendale Thirteen.”

“Greendale Thirteen?” Veronica asks, raising her eyebrows. “Is that some local legend that I’m supposed to know about?”

“Of course you didn’t bother to learn anything about the area that you moved to,” Jughead mutters, shaking his head. He pulls up one of the true crime blogs he followed in highschool and shows Veronica the post about the Greendale Thirteen. She scrolls through for a few seconds before snorting and rolling her eyes. “That’s your reaction?”

“It’s an urban legend! Witches and ghosts and devil-worship? This isn’t an episode of _The X-Files_ , Jughead.”

“It might not be but it doesn’t change the fact that we’ve definitely traveled back in time and the Spellmans are our only chance of getting back to the future,” Jughead says, overenunciating each word to make sure that she gets his point. “So unless you have a DeLorean with a flux capacitor conveniently lying around, I don’t see any other options for us.”

“Well, you don’t need to be a dick about it,” Veronica says as she presses her mouth into a smile. Jughead blanches a little. She looks like a shark scenting blood in the water. Jughead’s not sure though if it’s his blood that she’s scenting or someone else’s though. “We have to wait until after the doctor gets here, anyways. Make yourself comfortable until then, I suppose.”

“I’m not waiting,” Jughead gripes, shoving his phone back into his pocket. “I know where my dad kept the keys for his truck. I’m pretty sure it’s running.”

“You’re not going without me, Jughead,” Veronica hisses. “You can’t leave me behind. Not when all of this is your fault to begin with!”

“My fault!” Jughead shouts back in disbelief. “How the hell is _any_ of this my fault?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?” Veronica asks with a laugh. She runs a hand through her hair and tries her best not to scream. “How is this _not_ your fault? From the very beginning it’s always been about _you_! The voyeur. The videos. Why we were even in the woods that night? That was _your_ idea!”

“How the fuck was I supposed to know that we were going to run into a fucking witch’s ritual?” Jughead shouts, clapping his hands together to emphasize his point. Veronica jerks back with wide eyes before bursting into laughter. Jughead stares at her like she’s grown a second head before starting to laugh as well. He’s not sure what else to do in this situation. Once the laughter has passed, Jughead looks around him and raises his eyebrows. “I’ve never been in your room before.”

“Seriously?” Veronica asks, raising her eyebrows at him. Veronica glances around at her old bedroom. There isn’t much to it. Not yet at least. The school year had barely started and Veronica hadn’t had the chance to fully decorate at this point. “Well, there’s not much to it.”

Jughead nods in agreement. He’d imagined what the inside of Veronica’s room looked like before but the reality is disappointing. He’d thought she would have had swaths of velvet and gold brocade everywhere. There’s a severe lack of drama in her interior design, the pastel purples and whites don’t seem to suit her very well. The canopy bed, however, makes perfect sense and he tells her as much. 

“Fuck off, Jones,” Veronica replies, rolling her eyes. She sighs and looks down at her outfit - a dress and tights doesn’t seem practical in the slightest right now. “The last thing I want is your opinion on my teenage room.”

“I’m just saying,” he replies, sitting down on the ottoman in front of her bed. Veronica relaxes a little knowing that he didn’t cross that thin boundary by sitting on her actual bed. It shouldn’t matter but it does. “The canopy with the big plush pillows. It’s very princess and the pea. It suits the Park Avenue princess thing you have going on.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Veronica says as she goes to her wardrobe. She pulls out jeans and her Vixens practice tee. It’s a wonder that she went through all of the craziness of high school in skirts and heels. Veronica reaches back and tries to grab the zipper from her dress. “We both know how little you think of my princess thing, as you call it. Those of us with class call it taste.”

Jughead laughs a little as she struggles to reach the zipper. He glides across the room with a grace that he certainly did not actually have when he was actually sixteen. He still towers over her, no matter what age they are, and she has to look up through her lashes to meet his eye. He’s already reaching for the zipper as he asks, “Need a hand?”

“I seem to have lost the skill for this sort of thing when I gave up pencil skirts and tailored dresses,” Veronica mutters, turning her back to him entirely as he gently starts to pull the zipper down. His knuckles brush against her skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake. She almost shivers but refuses to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he’s getting to her. “The practicality of skirts and heels are entirely lost to me now.”

“And yet you manage to pull off the look so effortlessly,” Jughead mumbles as more of her back is exposed. Her skin is soft where he’s making contact, the thin barely visible hairs standing up straight. Jughead bites his bottom lip as the zipper reaches her lower back. He tilts his hand slightly, pressing the butt of his hand against her. He lingers for a long minute, longer than he intended, longer than he thought she would let him, before finally letting go. “There you go.”

Veronica steps away just a bit to shimmy out of the dress quickly and pulls the tee shirt on over her bra. She can hear Jughead inhale sharply and the scuffle of his boots against the carpet as he turns around. She can’t help but smirk a little bit. She pulls on her jeans and pats Jughead’s shoulder as she walks by him fully dressed, “Thanks for the hand.”

“Anytime,” Jughead croaks, voice cracking just the tiniest bit the way only a teenage boy’s can. Veronica has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing not only at the crack but the grimace that swiftly follows on Jughead’s face. “Are you ready to go or what?”

“What about Cheryl?” Veronica asks as she puts on socks and her practice sneakers. Jughead just rolls his eyes. “If you hadn’t noticed, I am trying to keep her from burning her house down tonight.”

“Why? She has a second one,” Jughead snaps with a scoff. “She’ll be fine.”

“Look,” Veronica says, standing up and planting both hands on her hips. “Cheryl was there for me when I needed someone. The least I can do is try to get her some help _before_ she starts hoarding dead bodies in the basement.”

“You’re already trying to change the past? We’ve been here less than an hour,” Jughead snaps.

“It’s already changed!” Veronica shouts back. “We’re supposed to be at the jubilee while Betty revitalizes her father’s urge to kill, remember?”

“You know what?” Jughead says, holding up both of his hands in surrender. “I’m done. Do what you want. I’m going to Greendale.”

He doesn’t give her the chance to say anything else before he storms out of her room, slamming the door shut behind him for extra emphasis. Veronica stares at the closed door with her mouth hanging open in shock for a moment before chasing after him, “Come back here, Jughead Jones!”

Jughead is standing in front of the drink cart in the empty living room with a determined look on his face. Veronica looks around for Cheryl, even going as far as calling out for her. Jughead waves a hand at her impatiently, explaining, “She was gone when I came back. She probably left as soon as we left the room.Your fault, by the way.”

“Perfect,” Veronica says, throwing her hands up in defeat. Just as Jughead reaches out to select a particular bottle, Veronica grabs his wrist and starts dragging him to the door. “In that case, let’s get going, McFly.”

-

The Spellman Mortuary looks like it should be haunted. Dark wood exterior and a rolling fog that creeps across the steps make Veronica shiver as she peers out the window of the town car. Jughead’s knee is bouncing again like it has been on and off since they left Riverdale. Veronica reaches out a hand and presses his leg down into the seat cushion, mumbling a soft, “Chill, Torombolo.” 

Andre raises his eyebrows at her in the rearview mirror and asks, “Are you positive, Miss Veronica, that you want me to leave you unattended?”

“Yes, Andre,” Veronica says with an irritated sigh. She’d had to argue for a solid ten minutes to get him to agree to drive them over in the first place. She’s sure that he’ll be calling her mother as soon as they’re out of the car, as well. Or even worse. Her father. Veronica pushes the thought to the back of her mind. One problem at a time tonight. She turns to Jughead, whose leg she still hasn’t let go of, and asks, “Shall we?”

“After you, _Miss Veronica_ ,” Jughead replies with a sneer, prying her hand from his leg and waving her forward. Veronica rolls her eyes but gets out of the car all the same. Jughead follows after her, shivering a little bit in the misty cold. “Definitely looks like the den of a coven of witches.”

“It’s just as creepy as Thornhill and you’ve been there a bunch of times,” Veronica says with a shrug that does little to convince Jughead of her confidence. She grabs his hand and tugs him towards the steps, keeping him close as they walk up the path. “At least there are _supposed_ to be dead bodies here.”

“That’s nowhere near as comforting as you think it is,” Jughead mumbles, glancing around them worriedly. He squeezes her hand a little as a twig breaks somewhere in the sprawling garden to their right. “I am seriously doubting how good of an idea this was.”

“I thought you were supposed to be an intrepid investigator?” Veronica asks as she gets ready to ring the doorbell. Jughead reaches out and grabs her hand, stopping her. She’s sure they look like a sweet teenage couple, holding hands in front of a mortuary. “Doesn’t that require some sort of courage? You used to rush into situations without thinking. What happened to that?”

“About fifteen years and a lot of therapy,” Jughead mutters. He glances at the door out of the corner of his eye. Even the plain black wood and fogged window seems eerie and foreboding. Nothing about this place is welcoming. “I just don’t want to make things worse.”

“How much worse can they be, Jughead?” Veronica asks with a laugh that she manages to choke off before it turns into a hysterical cackle. “We’re stuck in our sixteen year old selves. I don’t think things can get much worse.”

Jughead opens his mouth to object again, to make the very real point that they could be murdered while stuck in their sixteen year old bodies, when the door swings open and an imposing blonde woman looks down at them with a raised eyebrow. Jughead and Veronica jerk away from each other as if they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t be which only earns them a frown of disapproval as well from the blonde woman.

“Lovely. More time warped teenagers,” the woman mutters before pinching the bridge of her nose. 

“Time warped?” Veronica repeats, looking at Jughead but he’s just as confused as she is. 

“And mortals at that,” the woman says with a heaving sigh. She takes a step back and gestures for them to come inside. “Might as well come in then.”

“Thank you,” Veronica murmurs as they step into the house. 

Jughead looks around them foyer and feels his stomach twist up into more knots. The inside of the house matches the outside in creepiness. The lights are low and there are candles everywhere. Jughead’s sure that he can smell sage and other herbs in the air as well.

The door shutting loudly behind them breaks the deep silence that fills the foyer making them both jump a little. Veronica understands Jughead’s nerves now. Coming here seems like a mistake. Andre knows where they are but that does little to comfort her. She doesn’t want to test the theory that dying will snap them out of this nightmare. 

“Sabrina!” the blonde woman bellows up the massive staircase. She huffs out an irritated breath before screwing her eyes shut and opening her mouth even wider. “Both of you!”

Veronica reaches out and grabs Jughead’s hand again. At the very least, she’s not alone in this. At least she has him. It’s better than nothing. Jughead doesn’t hesitate to lace their fingers together, stepping a little closer to her. They both stare as a familiar blonde comes down the stairs - she’s younger now than when they’d encountered her in the woods but Veronica and Jughead recognize her easily. 

“Why are you screaming, Auntie?” Sabrina asks, purposefully avoiding looking at Jughead and Veronica. “Did you need something?”

The blonde woman, Sabrina’s aunt, narrows her eyes at the younger woman as she asks, “Where’s the other one?”

“You know Sabrina Morningstar,” Sabrina says with a slight laugh. “Can’t tell her anything. She’s so stubborn!”

“Sabrina Spellman, you will tell me where your doppelganger went this instant!” the woman snaps in a tone that allows zero argument. Veronica can tell she’s used to getting her way when that particular tone is used. Sabrina knows it as well considering the way her spine straightens and her hands curl into fists. 

“You know where she went, Aunt Zelda,” Sabrina replies, trying to appear confident. “She’s trying to get the situation in hell under control sooner rather than later.”

“I’m certain that I said neither of you were to leave the house,” Zelda says through her teeth. She hisses a little before waving her fingers intricately. A loaded cigarette holder appears from thin air, cherry already lit and ready for Zelda to inhale deeply. The cloud of smoke she manages to blow out is truly impressive. Though neither Jughead or Veronica’s sixteen-year-old bodies are addicted to the nicotine just yet, they both remember the calming effect cigarettes tend to have and crave that feeling. “Hilda!”

“Coming!” another voice sing-songs out. A short, plump woman comes through the doorway to the side of the main staircase, pausing when she sees Jughead and Veronica. She gives Zelda a funny look, tilting her head towards the two of them. “You should have said we were going to have company, Zelds. I’d’ve put the kettle on.”

“They are not guests, Hilda,” Zelda says in that same no-arguments tone. “They are part of Sabrina’s little spell.”

Hilda giggles a little and shakes her head, “Very funny, Zelda. Sabrina wouldn’t be so reckless.”

“Are we talking about the same Sabrina?” Zelda asks. She gestures to Jughead and Veronica, waving cigarette smoke along their frame. “Look at them closely, Hilda. Really look.”

Hilda rolls her eyes and turns to the two of them with a scrutinizing look. Veronica does her best not to fidget but Jughead isn’t quite so successful. He shoves his hands into his jacket pockets, takes them back out again, looks around the foyer, looks down at his feet, totally incapable of staying still. 

Jughead knows that he isn’t guilty of anything but it doesn’t stop him from feeling like he should be apologizing to the short woman. He opens his mouth to say as much when Veronica pinches his arm, making him jump a little. He glares down at her and rubs at the spot, knowing that it’s going to bruise. Veronica doesn’t pay him any attention though, keeping her eyes on Hilda.

After what feels like an hour has passed, Hilda sighs and turns to Sabrina with a disappointed frown.

“It was an accident, Auntie!” Sabrina says with a huff, crossing her arms. “They stumbled into the circle and it was too late to stop! They had to come along!”

“It is never too late to stop a spell, Sabrina,” Zelda says, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “Especially one that is so dangerous for two people - let alone four!”

“Two of which were mortals, at that!” Hilda adds with a nod. “Mortals who are now back in time where they have no place being, Sabrina!”

“I couldn’t stop!” Sabrina says, going so far as to stomp her foot as well. Veronica almost laughs at the display. It’s childish and stupid and she wonders when they’ll bring up sending them back to where they belong. “You have no idea what it’s like in the future for Greendale. I had to try and fix everything from the beginning.”

“Sabrina,” Zelda says, face softening with some understanding that goes beyond either Jughead or Veronica’s knowledge. “I understand you wanting to save everyone but you simply cannot go flitting about through time with passengers! Who knows what their actions could do to their own timelines! Or the repercussions in other timelines this might have!”

“So send us back!” Veronica interrupts, holding up both hands. Her patience has officially snapped and she’s tired of all this talk of magic and timelines. She needs answers, solutions, and standing here watching this verbal ping pong match isn’t going to get her either. “Stop talking about us like we aren’t here and just send us home.”

“It’s not quite that simple, my duck,” Hilda says with a grimace. She looks between Zelda and Sabrina who are still glaring at each other with a tired sigh before stepping forward to gather both Jughead and Veronica into her arms. “But you two look absolutely exhausted. How about we have a cup of tea while Zelda explains, hm? Something to calm the nerves. Maybe a bite to eat?”

Veronica wants to argue. She may be trapped in her sixteen year old self but that doesn’t mean that she should be treated like a child. Jughead’s cartoonishly loud stomach growling stops her from a tirade that she knows would just come off like a pitiful child’s tantrum. 

“Seriously, Jughead?”

“I get hungry when I’m stressed,” Jughead mutters with a shrug. “I can’t help it.”

“You could speak up, you know,” Veronica points out as Hilda guides them out of the foyer and into the kitchen. “Fight for our rights as people who were thrust into this magic shit without our consent or knowledge. Something.”

“I’m getting the sense,” Jughead says as he sits down at the small table in the kitchen. There’s a plate of cookies that he helps himself to without asking. Hilda gives him a pleased smile before turning the stovetop on and filing a kettle with water. “That no matter how much we bitch and moan, we aren’t going anywhere.”

“Well, I for one, am not going to accept that,” Veronica replies, sticking her nose in the air with a huff. She still sits down at the table though and takes a cookie for herself. “I refuse to live through my teenage years again.”

“You won’t have to,” Sabrina says as she marches into the kitchen with Zelda close behind her. “The circumstances of the spell were super specific. Once they’ve all been met within my timeline, we’ll get sent back to the spot where we left.”

“Hear that?” Jughead says, nodding towards Sabrina and reaching for another cookie. “Sounds like we have to just wait it out and we’ll be home before you know it.”

“I don’t like it,” Veronica states for the record. She shoves the last bit of her cookie into her mouth and tries not to frown too much as she chews. 

“You’re not the only one,” Zelda snaps with an irritated shake of her head. She crosses the kitchen, glaring at Sabrina the entire time. She doesn’t say anything but she makes it perfectly clear that it’s Sabrina who’s driven her to drink as she pulls out a bottle and a glass. Veronica eyes the tumbler as Zelda pours herself a three finger drink. “Need something, dear?”

“A drink would be nice,” Veronica says, licking her lips free of crumbs. Jughead stiffens next to her but she doesn’t pay him any attention. “To comfort me in this trying time.”

“You’re a child,” Zelda says, rolling her eyes. 

“I’m a thirty year old woman trapped in a sixteen year old body,” Veronica snaps as Hilda hands her a cup of tea. Veronica stares at the brown liquid with a frown that looks more like a pout than a frown. “I think that’s earned me a stiff drink.”

Zelda rolls her eyes and waves a finger at the tumbler until it floats across the kitchen to land in front of Veronica on the table. Veronica doesn’t hesitate to pour a healthy drop of bourbon into her tea cup before offering it to Jughead. He hesitates for a minute before taking the bottle. He doesn’t pour as much into his cup as she did her own but at least he’s not leaving her to drink alone.

Sabrina reaches for the bottle as well but Hilda smacks at her hand and takes it away with a soft tutting sound, “None for you, my love.”

“Auntie!” Sabrina complains. 

“You’re a minor,” Zelda explains with a shrug. “What kind of guardians would we be if we just _allowed_ you to consume alcohol. And in our presence, no less.”

“You gave them booze,” Sabrina pointed out, looking between Jughead and Veronica. “Why shouldn’t I be treated the same way? We’re all in the same situation - 30 year olds stuck in sixteen year old bodies - after all.” 

“Speaking of which,” Jughead interrupts, holding his hand up like they’re in a classroom and he needs to be called on to speak. “What _exactly_ was this spell meant to do?”

“I just needed to fix a few mistakes - big mistakes, really, that ruined everything,” Sabrina says slowly. There’s a seriousness to her voice that makes Veronica’s blood run cold. She sips from her tea and tries to let the sweet, muskiness of the bourbon warm her from the inside. “There’s four nights - four moments that need to be corrected and then everything will be fixed - better than fixed, in fact.”

Zelda rolls her eyes like she’s heard this speech before. Jughead’s sure that she has. The whole explanation sounds rehearsed, practiced to the point that it seems like Sabrina doesn’t quite believe her own spiel. He sips at his tea, trying to wrap his head around her vague non-answer and what it actually means for him and Veronica. Nothing good. He’s sure of that much, at least.

“Sounds like you’re trying to play god,” Veronica says with a slight scoff. Sabrina raises her eyebrows at Veronica and gestures for her to explain though her meaning is clear enough. “Aren’t there, like, rules about time travel? Space time continuum and all that?”

“Desperate times called for desperate measures,” Sabrina answers. She looks Zelda in the eye as she continues. “If you all would just trust me and trust that I know what I’m doing then everything will work out fine.”

“For you, maybe,” Zelda says with a laugh and raised eyebrows. “Everything will work out fine for _you_. We have no idea what your changes will do to the rest of us.”

“Fortune favors the brave, Aunt Zelda,” Sabrina says, her mouth twisting into a determined smirk that doesn’t reach her eyes. There’s a bitterness and anger there that doesn’t match her sixteen year old face. “This spell is going to work.”

“And what about us?” Jughead asks. Sabrina jumps a little in her seat, almost like she’d forgotten that either of them were there. It probably made it easier to spout off her moral high ground bullshit if she ignored the two very obvious flaws in her plan. “What about Riverdale? What about the changes that we make? I highly doubt the events you chose are going to coincide with any big events within our own lives.”

“Just lay low,” Sabrina says with a careless shrug. Veronica almost chokes on her tea and Jughead makes it worse by clapping a hand against her back. Sabrina frowns at the both of them but it doesn’t seem to deter her any. “Try to live your life as you did the first time around and everything should be fine when we get back to the future.”

“You hope,” Zelda mutters before finishing her drink. She gives Veronica a tight lipped smile. “No one has done this spell in a hundred years because it’s _too_ _risky_.”

“Too risky for your average witch, maybe,” Sabrina says with that same bitter, angry smirk. “Things change, Auntie. I became powerful. Powerful enough to do this spell.”

“With Sabrina Morningstar urging you on, I’m sure,” Zelda replies with an irritated huff. She points her burnt out cigarette at Jughead and Veronica. “The fact that two mortals were able to slip past your barriers, getting sent back with you, is evidence enough that you are not as powerful as you think you are, Sabrina Spellman.”

“They’re fine!” Sabrina shouts, standing up and glaring down at her aunt. The air seems to crackle between them, goosebumps crawling up Veronica’s arms despite the warmth still in her tea cup. Jughead’s knee starts bouncing and Veronica digs her nails in without thinking. “They’re both fine and, so far, the spell is working the way that it’s supposed to.”

“That doesn’t negate the recklessness with which you acted, Sabrina,” Zelda snaps, closing her eyes. She takes a slow, deep breath and looks up at her niece. “Whatever your reasons were for doing this, it was reckless and naive. I would have thought that by the time you were thirty you would have learned to use some caution.”

“Nope,” Sabrina says through her mean, tight lipped smile. “Just as reckless as ever, Auntie. Especially where my family is concerned.”

“No!” Zelda says, holding her hand up. “I do not want to hear it. This spell is going to play enough with time. Let's not make it worse by telling me what happens in the future.”

“That’s the thing, Aunt Zelda,” Sabrina says with a smug smirk. It does nothing to comfort Veronica but at the same time it’s the kind of self-assuredness that you just can’t argue with. “When this spell is over, the future will be totally different.”

-

Ambrose drives them back to Riverdale in the hearse, music blaring and the windows rolled down. It’s obvious that he’s trying to avoid conversation and both Jughead and Veronica are more than willing to accommodate him. They’re both lost in their own thoughts, staring out of the window as the woods rush by. 

It’s nearing midnight when Ambrose drops them off in front of Pop’s. He gives them both a short wave before pulling away and then they’re alone again. Veronica watches the taillights of the hearse disappear along the road, hands clasped in front of her and mouth turned down in a frown. 

She doesn’t know what to do now. There doesn’t seem to be anything _to do_ and Veronica doesn’t have a plan for that. The Spellmans were supposed to fix everything and send her back. She wasn’t supposed to be here for more than a few hours. Just going with the flow is not something that Veronica Lodge is capable of doing. She doesn’t go with the flow - she _creates_ the flow and everyone else has to either sink or swim. 

Veronica knows that she’s spiraling but she can’t stop it, can’t stop the way her heart beats faster and her breathing gets more and more shallow with every inhale. Her throat is next, tightening as if there were a pair of hands gripping her windpipe tighter and tighter. Her nails dig into her palms to stop her hands from shaking and her leg muscles stiffen - ready to sprint away at a moment’s notice. Her vision narrows to a single rock on the gravel, the edges of her sight blurring into nothingness. 

Jughead gripping her shoulder makes her jump out of her skin, jerking her gaze up to him. He turns her towards him, reaching out to wipe at the tears staining her cheeks. Veronica hadn’t even realized that she had started crying in the first place but she latches onto Jughead’s wrist and tilts her face into his palm. 

He mumbles something but all she can hear is her heart pounding in her chest and the blood rushing through her veins. She tries to breathe, squeezing her eyes shut and taking a deep breath through her nose and letting it out as a broken sob through her mouth. Jughead slides his hand around to the back of her neck, pulling her to his chest and hooking his chin over the top of her head. He wraps his free arm around her, rubbing her back in small circles.

Neither of them know how long they stand in the parking lot before Veronica’s tears finally dry and she catches her breath. They don’t pull away from each other though. If anyone were to ask why they’d both come up with some lie about it being cold or windy or snowy - any excuse other than the simple truth that they need each other. Now more than ever before, Veronica and Jughead _need_ each other and neither of them know what to do about it. 

“I could go for a cup of coffee,” Veronica mutters eventually, pulling her head away to look up at Jughead. She’s sure that she looks a mess, makeup smudged and hair frizzing in the wet, but Jughead doesn’t comment on it. “Care to join me?”

“Not like I have anywhere better to be,” Jughead replies with a sigh. He doesn’t let go of her, keeping an arm around her shoulders as they turn as one to head inside the diner. “We could get it to go and head to the trailer? It’s empty and no one should bother us.”

“You’re sure?” Veronica asks, looking up at him with a frown. “You want _me_ in your inner sanctum?”

“I figure you’ve already broken into it once,” Jughead says with a crooked grin that seems more sad than carefree. “What’s the harm in actually giving you an invitation?”

“Need I remind you that breaking in is what led us to knowing that your father was being framed for murder?” Veronica asks though there’s no bite to her words. 

Jughead laughs a little, tilting his head back to stare up at the stars before answering, “Then think of it as tit-for-tat. I saw your room, now you can see mine.”

“We did avoid the bedroom,” Veronica says, humming under her breath a little. She bites her bottom lip and looks up at him through her lashes. “I have always wondered what you plastered your walls with, Jughead Jones.”

“Really?” Jughead asks. He’s surprised he doesn’t get whiplash with how quickly he looks down at her. His eyes are blown wide, eyebrows reaching up to his hairline. “Like. Always always or just right now always?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Veronica replies with a shrug. 

“Jughead?” Archie says from the entrance to Pop’s. Betty’s next to him, wearing a matching expression of confusion and hurt. “Veronica? Where have you guys been?”

“Taking care of Cheryl,” Jughead says quickly, pulling his arm from Veronica’s shoulders. He takes a few steps towards the entrance but neither Betty or Archie move towards them. “It took awhile for the doctor to finally show up.”

“You’ve been _together_? Taking care of _Cheryl_?” Betty asks slowly. Her hands curl into fists and Jughead’s stomach drops. This wasn’t exactly keeping a low profile - especially if Betty and Archie overreacted and dumped them both. “You missed the jubilee - you missed my speech.”

“Betty,” Jughead says, licking his lips. Betty scoffs a little, hearing the apology in his voice already and completely misinterpreting it. “I’m so sorry. We . . . we lost track of time.”

“You guys knew how important tonight was to us and you _lost track of time_?” Archie asks with an angry frown. He’s not even looking at Jughead but staring at Veronica over his shoulder. “Doing _what_?”

“Taking care of Cheryl,” Veronica repeats. It’s a threadbare lie but it’s all they have. “And dare I say - bonding. A little.”

“Bonding? You two?” Betty asks, incredulous as ever but her hands uncurl and her shoulder relax just a fraction. “Seems unlikely.”

“But isn’t this what you always wanted, B?” Veronica asks with a flutter of her eyelashes. Neither pairing moves towards each other, the stairs leading down from Pop’s creating a clear gap between them. “Your best friend and your boyfriend getting along? Being friends, even?”

Betty bites her bottom lip before forcing a smile onto her face and nodding in agreement, “Of course! Right, Archie?”

She puts one hand on Archie’s shoulder and the other grips his bicep, pulling him into her side so she can hook her chin over his shoulder. It’s a practiced move. One Betty has done a thousand times over the course of her life with Archie. Both Jughead and Veronica zero in on the point of contact, on the way that Betty’s touch does just what it’s meant to and relaxes Archie’s stance until he’s loose and smiling again. 

“Yeah, of course,” Archie says, shaking his head. He hops down the last few steps, holding his hand out to Jughead. “Sorry, man. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Arch,” Jughead says with a laugh that’s still tense, still hesitant. It’s the best that he can do right now. He grabs Archie’s hand and pulls him into a hug. “It’s been a crazy day. We’re all tired.”

Betty follows Archie down the steps a little slower but there’s a smile on her face. Veronica copies it and holds her arm out so Betty can fit herself to Veronica’s side. She wraps an arm around Veronica’s waist and squeezes a little too tight. Veronica does her best not to wince, not to squeeze back equally as hard. 

“Sorry for missing your speech,” Veronica says softly, not taking her eyes off of Archie and Jughead. 

They’ve pulled away from their hug but they each have a hand on the back of the other’s neck. Veronica can’t hear what they’re saying but she wonders if they’re having the talk about Betty that they never had before. As chauvinistic as that sounded, it seemed to be a much needed thing for the two boys. 

Veronica glances at Betty out of the corner of her eye but the blonde’s focus isn’t on the boys. It’s on Veronica, calculating and slightly judging. Veronica steps away a little so that she can meet Betty’s assessing gaze with a raised eyebrow. “Something on your mind, B?”

Betty’s smile is instant and bright. If she were actually sixteen, Veronica might have bought it. But she knows mean girl tactics and they’ve never suited Betty very well. 

“Nothing, V,” Betty says, shaking her head. The smile dims a little becoming more sheepish than Stepford. A familiar chime rings out from Betty’s purse making Betty roll her eyes. “My mother. Archie was going to walk me home since he’s heading that way.” 

“Of course,” Veronica says, nodding along. She points at Pop’s entrance and shrugs. “Unfortunately, late night cravings for milkshakes must be met.”

“Whatever you say, Veronica,” Betty says with a laugh that’s not quite genuine. “You don’t mind if I keep your boyfriend for the rest of the night?”

“As long as you don’t mind me keeping yours,” Veronica relies with her own fake laugh. Veronica doesn’t let the awkward tension linger for long, pulling Betty into a tight hug. “Text me when you get home, okay?”

“Of course,” Betty says, sounding sincere and sweet again. Betty pulls away and walks over to Jughead and Archie, taking Jughead by the hand so that they can share a more private goodbye. 

Jughead swallows the lump in his throat and glances back at Archie and Veronica as they step towards each other. Now that he has a slightly better understanding of what happened to them, Jughead isn’t sure if he should be left to his own devices. There are so many things that he could change and looking down at Betty there’s one at the forefront of his mind.

“Are you okay?” Betty asks, voice low and nervous. She grabs his hand with both of hers, nails pressing gently into his palms. She keeps her eyes downcast and her bottom lip seems to tremble a little bit. “You were weird before I left the penthouse and now I find you with Veronica and you’re _hugging_ her and I didn’t think you even _liked_ her and I.” 

Betty stops herself and lets out an irritated huff before looking up at Jughead with fierce angry eyes. Jughead almost jerks back at the sudden change but he does his best not to balk. He might have spent a decade away from Betty but he’s never forgotten how insecure she was when they first started dating, how desperately she wanted to prove that she wanted _him_ and not Archie. 

“I need to know that we’re okay,” Betty says with a sharp nod. Her tone makes it clear that it’s not a question or request but a demand. One that he has to satisfy or else. “I need to know that I’m not . . . that we’re still in this together, Jughead.”

Jughead thinks about all the good times that he shared with her through the years, that he’s going to share with her, and, despite how dark everything seemed to get...will get, there were a lot of good times. Times of quiet laughter, of sharing a private joke, of needing only each other. They’d get hurt but they’d always manage to scrape themselves together for each other. 

Can he really deny them that future? 

Does she deserve that? To be spared all the hurt and betrayal but lose out on all that good, too? 

Jughead doesn’t know. He doesn’t know if he can do that to her. To himself. All he really knows is that he’s sixteen and his girlfriend needs him. Jughead reaches up with his free hand and cups Betty’s cheek, letting her nuzzle into his palm a little with a relieved sigh. Jughead smiles a little and frees his other hand to cup her other cheek, leaning in to kiss her forehead. 

Betty reaches up and grips his wrists, mumbling softly, “I don’t think I could go through it again. Losing the man I love to Veronica. I just. I can’t lose you too, Juggie. I can’t.”

Something cold runs down Jughead’s spine but he keeps his lips pressed to Betty’s skin, keeps holding her face in his hands, keeps playing the part of a loving boyfriend like he knows he’s supposed to. Betty leans back, lifting her mouth to be kissed. Her eyes are closed but he’s sure that she senses the fraction of a moment that he hesitates before pressing his mouth to hers. 

He wonders what she makes of that hesitation. If she realizes that she’s angled them so that Jughead can see Veronica and Archie arguing behind them. If she realizes that instead of focusing on the moment, instead of focusing on the softness of her lips, he’s focusing on her best friend. 

Veronica pulls Archie down at that moment, ending whatever argument they were having. Her eyes are screwed shut for that initial moment of contact, almost like she’s not enjoying this moment, not savoring being reunited with _her_ Archiekins. The Archie who only ever had eyes for Veronica, who only ever looked at Betty as a friend. It’s been a decade for them but the temptation is there and Jughead doesn’t know if Veronica is strong enough to resist it.

As if on cue, Veronica’s eyes open and meet his across the parking lot. The lights of the parking lot play games with Veronica’s features but Jughead’s almost positive that she’s thinking the same thing about him. 

-

The power hasn’t been cut off yet in the trailer and the front door is still unlocked from when FP was arrested. Jughead and Veronica let themselves in, not bothering to try and be quiet about it. The neighbors are all Serpents, they’re not going to go investigating strange noises at night. They don’t turn on any lights, though, just in case. 

“Tit for tat, Jones,” Veronica says, standing in the middle of the living room. She scrunches up her nose at the stale smell of beer and dirty dishes in the air. When he doesn’t move, doesn’t react at all to her request, Veronica waves a hand. “You saw my room, let me see yours.”

Jughead scoffs and throws himself down on the couch, covering his eyes with his arm. Veronica rolls her eyes at his obvious dramatics and makes her way to the kitchen. The light is dim, barely illuminating the dingy kitchen, but it’s enough for Veronica to spot the half empty twelve pack of Natural Light on the counter. The beer is warm to the touch but after the day that they’ve had, hell, after the last _twenty minutes_ that they’ve had Veronica isn’t going to be picky. She cracks one of the cans open and takes a dainty sip before inspecting the few items hanging off of the fridge.

There isn’t much. A faded crayon drawing of a house with a porch and a treehouse in the yard. A few bills. An old test with a peeling golden star sticker in the corner and Jellybean written in large block letters at the top. There’s a faded polaroid with a brunette couple that Veronica can only assume are Jughead’s parents when they were younger and happier. It's sweet, almost, seeing this faded testament to what the Jones family used to be. 

A loud knocking on the front door jolts Veronica out of her musings, making her spill some beer on her hand. She steps out of the kitchen just as Jughead opens the door with a grim look on his face. Veronica watches with raised eyebrows as Jughead exchanges a few gruff words with whoever it is at the door. He extends his hand and takes a leather jacket, staring at it with trepidation all over his face. 

The curling snake of FP’s serpent jacket glares at Veronica through the open doorway. Veronica can’t help the gasp that slips out of her mouth, hand reaching up to barely cover her mouth with her fingers. 

Jughead turns to her with a caught look on his face. It’s not like Veronica didn’t know about the Serpents, about his future with them, but for a moment he’d forgotten that she was there, that he wasn’t alone in this. He remembers the first time they’d handed him his dad’s jacket. He’d shrugged it on with a feeling of smug acceptance, something that had been so foreign to him before this moment. But Betty had caught him, had seen him - _really_ seen him - and blanched. 

But _now_ it’s Veronica staring at him with wide eyes. He doesn’t know what she’s thinking. How could he? Veronica’s always been a mystery to him - an element in his neatly structured reality that never fit - and it can’t be more obvious than it is right now. 

She’s dressed down but it doesn’t change the fact that her dressed down means designer jeans, perfect makeup, and an artfully messy bun. She’s holding a beer with her pinky out and the whole thing makes Jughead want to crawl into a hole. 

“Just remember,” Tall Boy says, clearing his throat and speaking up a little louder for the few Serpents lingering at the bottom of the stairs. “Serpents take care of their own. We’ll look out for you with your old man locked up.”

“Thanks,” Jughead mutters, clutching the jacket in his hand. He nods at the other Serpents over Tall Boy’s shoulder. “All of you. Thanks.”

The Serpents all nod back, muttering their own paraphrase of Tall Boy’s assertion. Tall Boy shifts uncomfortably just like Jughead thought he would. He remembers all too well Tall Boy’s own ambitions and twisted loyalties. 

If he ingratiates himself early on with the other older Serpents maybe his own reign wouldn’t be nearly as difficult. Shifting their loyalties away from Tall Boy now would leave him alone and vulnerable and less likely to cause problems later. Jughead’s fist clenches the jacket a little tighter, the zipper digging into the skin of his palm, as the Serpents slowly start to wander away until Tall Boy is the last man standing. 

“Listen,” he says, stepping up another step towards Jughead. Jughead stands up a little taller, trying his best to seem intimidating even though he’s barely 150 pounds soaking wet and nowhere near as tall as Tall Boy. “Your dad was my best friend. He looked out for my family when I was locked up. The least I can do is look out for his boy.”

Jughead raises an eyebrow and nearly laughs in Tall Boy’s face. Jughead knows who FP Jones’s best friend was and it had never been Tall Boy but he’ll let Tall Boy play his game for now. Jughead is already trying to come up with a plan to fix all his past mistakes, has been coming up with this plan since they first talked to Sabrina Spellman, actually. He just needs to make it through tonight. 

Jughead sticks his hand out for Tall Boy to grasp, thanking him again for checking in on him. Tall Boy seems satisfied and walks away with his hands shoved into his pockets. Jughead watches him until his looming figure disappears into the darkness in the direction of the White Wyrm. Jughead wonders briefly if he’s already reporting to Penny or if that’s something that hasn’t happened yet. 

“So,” Veronica says, stepping into the open doorway and scaring the piss out of him. Jughead drops the Serpent jacket like it’s hot and leans back against the aluminum railing around the stairs. Veronica laughs a little before picking up the jacket and brushing it clean of any dirt. “I guess this was your first encounter with the Serpents.”

“Without my dad around?”Jughead mutters after his heart has finally stopped beating so damn fast. “Yeah, it was plus my first invite to join.”

“And what did you say last time?” Veronica asks, draping the jacket over her arm and leaning against the doorframe. 

It’s cold out, the slight winter breeze sending a trail of goosebumps up her arms. She’s half-tempted to put the jacket on but doesn’t do it. This moment feels too delicate to break with that kind of move. Veronica’s sure that Jughead is on the tip of something big even if she can barely understand it. 

“I put the jacket on and smiled,” Jughead says, shaking his head. He grits his teeth and tries to ignore the swirl of self-loathing in his stomach. He’s doing things differently now, he’s not the same foolish kid who just wanted to be part of something bigger than himself. “I was so . . . excited to be invited into this _thing_ that had torn my family apart so I put the jacket on and felt like a badass for about two seconds before I saw Betty’s face.”

“I’m sure she was less than pleased,” Veronica says with an understanding nod. She knows that feeling, the want, and she knows how much it hurts when the person you love is horrified by it. “But Betty’s not here this time.”

“No, she’s not,” Jughead mumbles, biting his bottom lip. “We said we loved each other for the first time tonight.”

“Wow,” Veronica says, raising his eyebrows. She does her best to suppress another shiver, failing miserably and shaking her whole body to chase the cold away. “You two certainly didn’t waste any time, now did you?”

“Don’t even start,” Jughead snaps, stepping forward to take the jacket from her. He drapes it over her shoulders and rubs the top of her arms with his hands to get her blood pumping again. “I think she tried to say it tonight in the parking lot. I didn’t say it back.”

“That’s a definite departure from history,” Veronica says, looking up at Jughead through her eyelashes. She slides her arms into the jacket sleeves. It’s about three sizes too big but it’s heavy on her shoulders in a way that’s comforting. Or maybe it’s the weight of Jughead’s hands still on her. “If it makes you feel any better, I think I _officially_ became frenemies with Betty and I’m pretty sure it has everything to do with you.”

Jughead feels his cheeks heat up a little but he hopes that Veronica thinks it’s the cold finally getting to him. Instead of answering her, he just turns her around and pushes her back into the trailer. “Better get inside before you freeze to death.”

“Don’t think I don’t see you trying to change the subject,” Veronica mutters even though she does what he suggests. “Though Archie was none too pleased that I missed his performance.”

“Not really starting off on the right foot if we’re going to try and fix things,” Jughead says as he walks past her to the kitchen. 

Veronica’s half-drunk beer is sitting on the counter, going flat. Jughead stares at the open can with a distrustful yearning. He doesn’t have the tolerance that he’s used to and the last thing he needs to do is start imitating his father earlier in life. Veronica doesn’t follow him into the kitchen, lingering by the door with a frown on her face. Jughead calls her name before stepping back out of the kitchen and asking, “You okay?”

“Not really,” Veronica says, shaking her head. Jughead makes a move towards her but she holds up her hand, tips of her fingers barely poking above the cuff of the jacket she’s still wearing. It’s armor and Veronica finally has a clear understanding as to why Jughead refused to take it off in front of Weatherbee when they first combined Riverdale and Southside High. “I just . . . what if I don’t _want_ to fix anything? What if I want to do the exact opposite of fix it?”

“What are you talking about?” Jughead asks, stepping towards her with both hands up like she’s a scared animal he doesn’t want to spook. “This is our chance to do everything right - to get it all right.”

“To what end?” Veronica asks with a bitter laugh. “You’re talking about getting it right but for what? For Betty? To have her in your life?”

“It’s not just about Betty,” Jughead says though the words do sound slightly hollow, even to his own ears. Veronica rolls her eyes and bites her bottom lip hard to keep it together.

“Then what is it about?” Veronica snaps, glaring at him. “What the fuck is it all about if not getting to keep Betty and damn everything else, right? We both know that losing her is the thing you regret the most so why not try to stop yourself from losing her altogether, right?”

“Veronica,” Jughead warns. 

She’s getting progressively louder as she goes on until she’s almost yelling, “God, ask yourself, Jughead, is she even worth it? Is she worth all the second guessing and mind games you're trying to play right now just to keep her? Would she even do the same for you? Be honest, for once in your life, be actually honest when it comes to her.”

“What does it matter to you?” Jughead snaps back. He curls his hands into fists just to stop himself from hauling her up by the lapels of her borrowed jacket. “You could do the same thing with Archie but you’re not. And don’t tell me it's because it’s too hard or whatever bullshit story you’ve come up with over the course of the night. You want me to be honest? How about you try being honest with yourself on this one, Veronica?”

“And what is the honest truth?” Veronica asks through clenched teeth. She steps into his space and glares up at him, head tilted back and arms crossed over her chest. “Since you seem to know me so damn well - what’s stopping me, Jughead?”

Jughead inhales sharply, filling his nose with whatever scent Veronica has sprayed into her wrists and dabbed behind her ears. It’s floral and musky and distracting enough that he loses focus for a moment, caught in the deep brown of Veronica’s eyes. They’ve had their fair share of arguments but Jughead doesn’t remember them ever getting this close to each other. There had always been Archie and Betty to contend with, their significant others acting as unintentional safety measures to keep Jughead and Veronica apart. 

“We’re both cowards,” Veronica says, answering her own question in a small voice. She lets out a bitter laugh and pats Jughead’s chest. Jughead reaches up and grips her fingers, squeezing the buckle on the cuff of the jacket against his palm until it stings. “You’re afraid of letting her go and I’m afraid of holding on too tight.”

“So where does that leave us?” Jughead mumbles, lowering his voice to match hers. He wets his lips with the tip of his tongue, Veronica’s eyes following the movement. 

“Where it always leaves us,” Veronica says, looking up at him with despondent eyes. “Alone in this shitty town that’s determined to break us.”

“Not alone,” Jughead reminds her. “I’m in this with you.”

“Are you?”

“Doesn’t seem like I have much choice,” Jughead says which does nothing to make Veronica feel any better. Jughead sees it on her face and grips the lapels of her jacket, pulling it tighter around her shoulders and dragging her fractionally closer as if that’s actually possible. “I’m on your side, Doc Brown. At least until we’re back in the right time. After that, all bets are off.”

“Trust me, Jones,” Veronica says with the hint of a smile on his face. “As soon as we’re back in the right time, I’m never stepping foot in this town again.”


End file.
